TEHRAN Energy Minister Habibolah Bitaraf said that the government will provide the necessary facilities and permission for private sector investment and foreign cooperation in the country's energy industry.

Bitaraf added that private companies given permission to build power plants will be allowed to sell their power to the government at a fixed price.

He said that effectively developing the energy and industrial sectors should help to alleviate poverty.

The minister said that according to statistics, energy production has increased by more than 6.5 percent. He added that this rate was one half percent more than projected in the Third Five-Year Plan.

He noted that the country's energy directors are attempting to produce safe power for Iran by improving production, transfer and distribution capacity.

"Considering the increasing rate of power consumption over the past two decades, the power storage coefficient has decreased in power plants and manufacturing units. We are trying to increase this rate by using modern techniques," Bitaraf said.

Bitaraf stated that the country's power storage capacity is 28,000 MW, which is 4 times greater than the capacity in 1979.