TEHRAN (Iran News) –The government opened a series of major electricity projects in the energy-rich province of Khuzestan in its southwest amid plans to boost business activity in the region.
President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday opened a 307 megawatt (MW) power plant in Do Kuheh area near the city of Andimeshk in Khuzestan.
The gas-fired electricity station is a first phase of a combined cycle power plant in Do Kuheh which includes an unfinished steam unit with a generation capacity of 144 MW.
The government has spent some 142 million euros on construction of the gas unit of the Do Kuheh power plant, according to a report by Raisi’s website, which added that the power plant will create 100 permanent jobs in the region.
The report said the F-class power plant will have an efficiency rate of 58%, one of the highest in Iran.
Using a video conference link, Raisi also inaugurated dozens of other water and electricity projects across Khuzestan, a province of more than five million people which is home to some of Iran’s largest oilfields.
Among the projects was a 196 MW steam unit in the West Karun power plant, a project which will boost electricity supply to oilfields near Iran’s border with Iraq. The power plant unit, which had been opened in July last year, was synchronized with the national power grid in Iran on Thursday.
The official IRNA news agency said a total of 33 new energy projects with an investment of 87 trillion rials ($174 million) were opened during Raisi’s visit to Khuzestan.
Later in the day President Raisi said that the country is making progress despite foreign threats and pressures, stressing that the existing problems will certainly be resolved by the Iranian people without any help from foreigners.
Raisi made the remarks while addressing crowds of people in the city of Andimeshk on the second leg of his tour of the southwestern province of Khuzestan.
The president said that the government, in cooperation with the people, is making efforts to advance the country’s progress in economic, social and cultural fields, despite foreign threats and pressures.
He said that measures are underway to both nullify and lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The president said that Iran has a bright future ahead and that the enemy would not be successful in its attempts to create hopelessness and pessimism in the country.
Raisi’s trip to Khuzestan is part of the second round of his provincial tours since he took office in August 2021. The trips are aimed at dealing with issues and problems affecting different provinces.
Earlier on Thursday, the Iranian president had visited Dezful, a city known as the symbol of resistance in Iran during the imposed war of Iraq’s toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1980s.
Meanwhile Raisi underlined that unity of Iranian tribes and ethnic groups in Khuzestan has always foiled the enemies’ plots, and said that this unity and solidarity should be preserved.
President Raisi in his Thursday meeting with the heads of Khuzestani tribes at Ershad Mosque of Ahvaz said that Khuzestan has paid its fair share to country, adding that today, the entire Iranians, and especially the government officials must frankly be fully at the service of this province and its warm-blooded citizens.
President Raisi said that employment is the 1st priority in Khuzestan, and using the local workforce in all sectors has priority compared to using non-local forces, and the companies stationed in this province must take advantage of the Khuzestani youth as their 1st priority.
He said that the last summer water crisis of Khuzestan no longer exists, thanks to good water management, adding, “The resulted tensions due to that water crisis could have led to serious tension in the region, but we fortunately was overcome thanks to competent water management in the province.
“My greatest pride is being the servant of the people, and I will spare no effort in resolving the problems with which Khuzestan province and our citizens in this province are entangled,” President Raisi added.
