President Inaugurates More Projects Despite Sanctions
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani has launched some major power and water projects in Kermanshah, Ardabil, and East Azarbaijan provinces in western and north-western Iran.
The projects, which were inaugurated by President Rouhani through videoconference calls on Thursday, include the second gas unit of Dalahoo Combined Cycle Power Plant in Eslamabad-e-Gharb County in Kermanshah province.
President Rouhani inaugurated five water and electricity projects worth over $210 million in three provinces during the 18th week of the Energy Ministry’s A-B-Iran program.
Inaugurated through video conference in a ceremony held in Tehran, the mentioned projects included a dam, a power station, two small-scaled solar farms, and some electricity transmission lines.
As reported the said projects were put into operation in Ardebil, East Azarbaijan, and Kermanshah provinces in the west and northwest of the country.
With the mentioned projects operational, a total of 1.7 megawatts (MW) has been added to the country’s solar power generation, 310 MW to the capacity of the combined cycle power plants, and 21 million cubic meters was also added to the storage capacity of the country’s dams.
The solar power plants, one with a capacity of 0.2 MW and the other with a capacity of 1.5 MW were inaugurated in Ardebil province.
The 0.2 MW power plant with a cumulative electricity output of 326,000 kWh is going to save 0.11 million cubic meters of natural gas consumption annually and emit 274 tons of carbon dioxide.
The 1.5 MW solar power plant with a cumulative output of 244,000 kWh will save 0.85 million cubic meters of natural gas, and also prevents the emission of carbon dioxide equivalent to 2056 tons per year while saving 655 cubic meters of water in the year.
The 310-megawatt gas unit of Dalahou Combined Cycle Power Plant in Kermanshah Province was also among the inaugurated projects, which was put into operation with a total investment of 109 million euros (about $130 million).
Kalghan Chai dam in the city of Bostanabad in East Azarbaijan was the third project inaugurated via video conference in the presence of Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian.
With a total capacity of 21 million cubic meters, the mentioned dam was constructed with 13.2 trillion rials (about $31.4 million) of investment.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony via videoconference, President Rouhani announced that the directive for the implementation of a program to award free electricity to 30 million low-consuming subscribers will be referred to the Energy Ministry over the next two months.
“This program, which will be implemented in the next two months, is a gift from the government to the people of our country, especially the residents of the villages, who are mainly among the low-consuming households,” Rouhani said.
He further stressed: “We are witnessing that the effort, dedication, and devotion of our nation, including employees, workers, and engineers throughout the country has paid off, and this condition is of great importance for us.”
Rouhani pointed out: “We are not in normal conditions and this year, and we are organizing such great inauguration ceremonies at the most difficult and severe time of sanctions.”
The Iranian president went on to say: “In the history of Iran during the last 2.5 years and from the beginning of 2018 until today, there has been no record of such pressure on the nation, and the people resisted these conspiracies with more endurance every day.”
Rouhani reminded: “We have proved that the United States has failed, and we definitely declare to the world and to history that the United States used all its plans and power to defeat the Iranian nation in order to put pressure them.”
Stating that the United States has suffered major political defeats in recent weeks, Rouhani said: “In more than seventy years since the establishment of the United Nations, there has been no record of the United States drafting a resolution against the Iranian nation, begging for votes for months, and calling on various countries. When the United States introduced a plan in the Security Council that was against Iran’s arms embargo, only one country voted for the United States, and 13 countries either voted against it or rejected the US resolution, that is, they rejected their plan.
The President continued: The U.S. ‘snapback’ mechanism resolution raised at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting about 10 days ago during a meeting on regional issues and the Palestinian cause and it also failed when 13 out of the 14 members delivered a speech and rejected it.”
The Iranian president also stressed: “With the resistance of the Iranian nation, on the one hand, the political defeat of the United States in the United Nations has been embodied, and on the other hand, we witness the prosperity of Iran.”
The inauguration ceremony of several developmental plans accomplished with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in attendance via video conferencing.
