TEHRAN - Ali-Akbar Mehrabian, who was recently approved by the parliament as the new energy minister, has outlined his major plans for the ministry during his tenure, ISNA reported on Thursday.

Construction of 10,000 megawatts (MW) capacity of new power plants, reforming the country’s water resources management system, supplying over 90 percent of the country’s rural areas with drinking water, and desalination of seawater for using in central parts of the country were among the top programs of the Energy Ministry during Mehrabian’s office.

Economic improvement of water and electricity sectors in order to create balance in resources and consumption, increasing productivity and efficiency, supporting and promoting research and technology to strengthen domestic manufacturing of equipment, improving the business environment in the water and electricity industry through maximum interaction with the private sector were also among the major priorities of the new energy minister.

According to the official, the ministry’s plan for constructing new power plants will be mainly focused on the establishment of renewable plants to help save more fuel while protecting the environment.

“Saving fuel from renewable power plants is a great and permanent treasure because renewable sources are sustainable and free. The investment needed to build 10,000 megawatts of such power plants would be about six billion dollars, while the constructed power plants will save three billion dollars of fuel every year,” Mehrabian said.

Regarding the amendment of the country’s water management system, the minister said: “My most important plan in this area is to reform the water management system and the allocation method based on the three principles of justice, transparency, and law.”

Water supply to deprived and rural areas is also among the minister’s major programs.

“Rural water supply is one of our main programs in the ministry. At present, the percentage of villages with access to drinking water is 75 percent, which according to the plan, the figure will reach 90 percent,” he said.

Mehrabian had previously said that his ministry plans to boost the country’s power generation capacity by 35-40 gigawatts (GW) over the next four years.

EF/MA