TEHRAN - Heads of Iran’s chambers of commerce have called for establishing a model for cooperation between Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) and the private sector for developing the country’s industrial parks, the portal of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) reported.

In a meeting with the board of directors of the ICCIMA, the heads of the country’s chambers stressed the need for the private sector to have a more significant role for the development of the country’s industrial parks and zones.

Speaking in this meeting, ICCIMA Head Samad Hassanzadeh said cooperation between the government organizations and the private sector will help the government to get more familiar with the capacities of the private sector.

ISIPO Head Farshad Moghimi also said the government plans to unveil a support package for businesses in late June on the occasion of National Industry and Mining Day.

According to Moghimi, there are currently 870 active industrial parks across the country in which more than 61,000 units are operating.

Back in 2023, ICCIMA members had stressed the need to allocate a portion of the national budget for maintaining the infrastructure in industrial parks across the country.

During a meeting of the ICCIMA Industries Committee, the committee members examined the issues related to the country’s industrial parks which were mainly concerned with the reconstruction, repair, and maintenance of the infrastructure in these parks.

The attendees of the meeting emphasized that in order to resolve the infrastructure-related issues in the country’s industrial parks a separate credit line must be defined in the national budget bill in this regard.

Speaking in this meeting, Industries Committee Head Alireza Samadi-Kolahi mentioned the old regulations for financing industrial parks, saying: “We tried hard to revive the old law that allowed the government to allocate a share of municipal value-added tax to industrial parks. But this law is no longer approved. But perhaps part of the provincial development budget can be allocated for this purpose.”

The government used to allocate a portion of the Municipalities’ value-added tax to industrial parks, however, the law has been changed and this funding is no longer provided.

Further in the meeting, the attendees pointed to the government’s plans for allocating about $2.2 billion for a new fund called Iran Progress and Justice Fund, which is aimed to finance developing infrastructure in various provinces and noted that a portion of the mentioned funding can be allocated for maintaining the infrastructure in industrial parks.

According to the ICCIMA committee members, the infrastructures in industrial parks including sewage, water, treatment plants, access roads, etc., are worn out and have practically lost their efficiency, while there is no budget to reconstruct or maintain these infrastructures.

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