TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Iranian government picked up a new contractor for construction of a key railroad extension into Iraqi territory, with sources saying that the bidder would provide full finances worth 100 million euros for the project.
ISNA cited a senior Roads and Urban Development Ministry official as saying that the selected private sector company would be quicker in finishing the 33-kilometer railroad that would finally link the southwestern Iranian city of Shalamcheh to Iraq’s Basra.
Abbas Khatibi said that the company is planning to commission works inside Iraq to an Iraqi contractor to expedite the project and finish it on time, Press TV reported.
Iran’s First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri earlier announced that the Mostazafan Foundation (MFJ) had been removed from the Iran-Iraq railroad project and replaced with a company identified as Fadak Arzesh Afarinan.
The MFJ, a large semi-government institution that has been awarded with key construction projects in Iran, had been supposed to provide 60 percent of the finances for the railroad project inside Iraq and the rest was the responsibility of the Iranian government.
Reports in July suggested that hurdles had been cleared for the progress of the Iran-Iraq railroad, a project that has stalled since 2014 due to the security situation in Iraq.
A 17-kilometer section of the railroad inside Iranian territory that ends in Shalamchah has already been built.
Once finished, the project would hugely boost trade and passenger travel between Iran and Iraq while it would have larger implications for countries in the region.
- source : Iran Daily
