TEHRAN – Numerous energy projects worth over $187 million were inaugurated in three provinces of Iran on Monday, IRNA reported.

In a ceremony attended by the Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, projects including the establishment of some electricity transmission lines, power stations, and solar plants were inaugurated through video conferences in Yazd and Kerman provinces.

Of the mentioned projects, 13 were put into operation in Yazd province central Iran, with a total cost of 2.83 trillion rials (about $67.3 million).

Seven projects, including a 400-KV electricity substation, were also inaugurated in the central Kerman province, in which a total of 4.34 trillion rials (about $103.3 million) was invested.

Meanwhile, 152 gas supply projects with a total cost of about 700 billion rials (about $16.6 million) were inaugurated in the western Kermanshah province in the presence of Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)’s Managing Director Hasan Montazer Torbati.

A-B-Iran program (the acronyms A and B stand for water and electricity in Persian) was initiated in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), during which the minister made 31 trips to various provinces for inaugurating over 220 major projects with a total investment of 335.6 trillion rials (about $7.99 billion).

Since the beginning of the second phase of the scheme in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20), every week several energy projects have gone operational across the country.

Back in August, Ardakanian said that in the second phase of the A-B-Iran scheme 250 projects are going to be inaugurated by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

The official noted that a total of 500 trillion rials (about $11.9 billion) of investment will be made in the mentioned 250 projects.

EF/MA