ETHRAN – Iran has reached a primary agreement with Afghanistan to invest $5.3 billion in the country’s transportation and infrastructure projects, an official with the Iranian Transport and Urban Development Ministry announced.

“Negotiations are currently underway for Iran to invest $5.3 billion in Afghanistan's transportation and infrastructure projects and the export of technical-engineering services to the country,” ILNA reported on Friday, quoting Hossein Mir-Shafi’ as saying.

According to Mir-Shafi’ the two sides are discussing the details of the mentioned projects to determine the Iranian contractors that are going to implement them.

Completion of the Herat to Mazar-e-Sharif Railway Project with a total investment of $2.2 billion is one of the projects that is planned to be conducted by Iranian companies.

“This route can provide a rail link between Iran and Central Asia and China. The length of this railway is 656 kilometers and it has been officially announced that this railway will be implemented and put into operation by the Iranian private sector,” Mir-Shafi’ explained.

He further noted that positive talks have been also held in the field of road construction and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works has introduced their priority transit and transportation projects to the Iranian side.

“Following this, the [Iranian] Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has held preliminary talks with the Association of Exporters of Engineering Services and announced the areas for mutual cooperation with the Afghan counterpart; Iran is going to invest at least $3.1 billion in Afghanistan’s road construction projects.”

The official further noted that another agreement is also being prepared in the field of housing construction, based on which Iranian private sector is going to establish new towns and skyscrapers in major cities.

“The draft of this agreement is currently prepared and is being pursued through diplomatic authorities. It is estimated that 5,000 - 10,000 housing units will be built by Iranian investors with the participation of Afghan companies,” he said.

EF/MA