TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday inaugurated several major water and electricity industry projects valued at over $7.5 billion through video conference in three provinces, IRNA reported.

Put into operation in the 10th week of the ministry’s A-B-Iran program in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), the said projects were inaugurated in Hormozgan, Ilam, and Kermanshah provinces.

As reported, Energy Minister Reza Ardakanin and officials from the mentioned provinces also attended the inauguration ceremony.

The beginning of the construction operations of a steam power plant with a capacity of 1400 megawatts (MW) in Minab, the second gas unit of Hengam combined cycle power plant in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province; a dam in Ilam, and over 6,750 hectares of irrigation and drainage networks in Ilam and Kermanshah provinces were among the mentioned projects.

As reported, over 150 trillion rials (about $3.5 billion) has been invested for the implementation of the abovementioned irrigation and drainage networks, while 4.05 trillion rials ($96.4 million) has been invested for the dam project; Sirik power plant is going to be constructed with €1.406 billion (about $1.7 billion) of investment while €355 million (about $432.8 million) plus seven trillion rials (about $166.6 million) has also been spent for the completion of the gas unit of Hengam power plant.

Under the framework of the A-B-Iran program, the Energy Ministry has inaugurated many projects to supply drinking water to the country’s rural areas.

The first phase of the A-B-Iran program (the acronyms A and B stand for water and electricity in Persian) was initiated in the Iranian calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19, 2020), during which 220 major projects with a total investment of 335.6 trillion rials (about $7.99 billion) were put into operation across the country.

In the second phase of the program that was carried out in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20) 250 water and energy projects worth 500 trillion rials (about $11.9 billion) were inaugurated in several provinces.

The third phase of the program was officially started on April 6 and like the previous phases, this year, too, the Energy Ministry is planning to inaugurate numerous water and electricity projects in various provinces every week.

Last week, Ardakanian inaugurated water projects worth over $185m in three provinces during the ninth week of the A-B-Iran program.

The inaugurated projects included water supply to several rural areas, some wastewater and water treatment plants, some surface water collection facilities, as well as a tunnel for water transfer.

EF/MA