Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has opened 10 major energy projects with an investment of 19 trillion rials (nearly $100 million) as his administrative government presses ahead with finishing key infrastructure facilities across the country.
Using a video conference call on Thursday, Rouhani ordered the opening of nine electricity and water projects in the southern province of Fars as well as a large dam in the western province of Kermanshah.
Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that the projects opened in Fars included six solar farms with a total generation capacity of 33 megawatts (289 gigawatt hours of power per year).
All those renewable power plants have been built by private investors, said Ardakanian while adding that Iran is moving fast to develop its renewable sector by attracting nearly 143 trillion rial ($715 million) in new private investment.
Other projects opened in Fars included a huge water treatment facility in the provincial capital of Shiraz. The facility will rely on a modern pumping station as well as a major sewage plant to facilitate water management operations in the largest city in southern Iran, said Ardakanian.
Rouhani also gave the go-ahead for start of work at Sharafshah Dam, a large reservoir meant to provide clean water to people in two border cities near Iraq.
Ardakanian said farming activities in Kermanshah’s border regions would also benefit from the opening of the 131-million liter dam as it would provide irrigation for nearly 4,800 hectares of lands in the region.
Iran has kept developing its massive energy infrastructure despite a series of American sanctions that have caused a decline in government revenues.
The government has spent billions of dollars to finish dozens of power plants, water and sewage facilities and hydroelectric dams across Iran since the US imposed its sanctions on the country in 2018.