TEHRAN – Head of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization (RMTO) Darioush Amani has said his organization is capable of constructing 7,000 kilometers of roads in rural areas if the necessary funding is provided by the government, IRNA reported.

“Currently, there are 208,000 kilometers of rural roads across the country, of which about 113,000 kilometers are asphalted,” Amani said.

According to the official, in addition to the current rural roads network, the country needs 32,000 kilometers of new roads for villages with 20-100 households.

To build the mentioned 32,000 kilometers of new roads, 450 trillion rials (about $10.7 billion) of funding is needed, and we are consulting with the Program and Budget Organization in this regard; it is expected that the construction of the said roads will begin as soon as the funding is allocated, Amani explained.

Pointing out that constructing each kilometer of rural roads requires about 15 billion rials (about $357,000), he added: “According to the studies, if 100 trillion rials (about $2.38 billion) is provided for the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization every year, we can hope that after four years, about 30 to 32,000 kilometers of new rural roads will be constructed.”

Amani further commented on the situation of rural roads in the country and said: "the country’s rural roads have been in poor condition in recent years due to lack of funding."

"If we want to improve the condition of existing roads and pursue the issue of asphalting rural roads, we must provide the necessary budget," he added.

The Deputy Minister of Transport and Urban Development said: "If we continue the current trend of funding for the rural sector, it is predicted that in the next four years we will have a fundamental change in rural roads both in terms of quality and quantity."

EF/MA