TEHRAN – The first consignment of Indian equipment for the development of port activities at Iran’s Chabahar port worth $8.5 million has arrived in the southeastern port, the director-general of Sistan-Baluchestan Province’s Ports and Maritime Department announced.

“The first shipment of strategic loading and unloading equipment worth $8.5 million has arrived in Chabahar port to mark the activation of the contract between the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) and the Indian side,” Behrouz Aghaei said on Sunday.

According to Aghaei, the mentioned equipment is going to be installed in Shahid Beheshti port, as part of a contract between the two sides, based on which India is going to invest $85 million in this port.

The official noted that the Indian side is going to operate in Shahid Beheshti port in the form of a build–operate–transfer (BOT) contract and this is the first time that such a contract is implemented in one of the country's ports with 100 percent foreign investment.

Back in July 2020, PMO Head Mohammad Rastad had said that India is pursuing the construction and installing of the necessary equipment in Chabahar port under the framework of a BOT contract.

Rastad had noted that the grain suckers, gate cranes as well as gantry cranes of Shahid Beheshti port were installed last year, and only the equipment related to the commitment of the Indian operator were remained to be imported and installed in this port.

India is the only foreign country that is currently participating in a major development project in Iran despite the U.S. sanctions.

The Chabahar Port development project is the anchor for the expansion of economic relations between the two nations.

India is going to install and operate modern loading and unloading equipment including mobile harbor cranes in Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar.

The strategic port in southeastern Iran is the only ocean port on the Makran coast and it has a special place in the country's economic affairs.

EF/MA