Iran, Russia to Seal $5 Billion Loan for Infrastructure Projects
TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardekanian says he is heading to Moscow on Thursday to "operationalize” a $5 billion credit line for infrastructure projects.
The idea for Russia to provide the loan to Iran was first conceived in 2015, but the final documents were signed only in September this year.
The loan will be used mainly in the construction of a 1,400 megawatt thermal power plant in Sirik in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province at a cost of $1.2 billion and electrification of a 500 km railway line linking Garmsar in central Iran to the Inche Burun border with Turkmenistan at about $1 billion, he said Wednesday.
"For the remainder of the $5 billion, lost of follow-up work was done which fortunately yielded results just recently,” Ardekanian told reporters in Tehran.
Part of the credit line, he said, will be used to finance building 2,000 train carriages for use in inner city transportation and to build a railway between Zahedan in southeast to Birjand in northeast Iran.
The rest will be used in expanding Gotvand hydropower plant's capacity to 1,640 MW from 1,000 MW and create another 180 MW capacity at natural gas-fired Ramin power plant in Ahvaz.
Ardekanian said delegates from Iran’s ministry of finance, the central bank, ministry of industry, mine and trade and ministries of transportation and energy will attend final negotiations in Moscow Thursday.
Russia and Iran signed the deal to electrify the Garmsar to Inche Burun line during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran in November 2015.
The railway line extends into Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, linking Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and beyond.
The contract covers design, sourcing of materials and equipment and construction of 32 stations and 95 tunnels, 7 traction substations, 11 section pillars, 6 duty posts of the contact station and the power supply administration building.
In 2017, Russia’s largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment, CJSC Transmashholding, signed a $2.5 billion deal with IDRO Group in Tehran for joint production of rolling stock in Iran.
Transmashholding will hold an 80% stake in the joint venture, taking over Iran’s Wagon Pars Company to produce railroad cars in the country.
And also, in other cooperative area between the countries, senior Iranian and Russian health officials in a meeting in Moscow stressed the importance of cooperation in area of exporting medicine and medical equipment.
During the meeting in Moscow, the Iranian and Russian deputy health ministers discussed ways for export of medical supplies.
The meeting was held within the framework of the Joint Commission on Cooperation between the two countries and within the framework of a one-day seminar on the terms and conditions for registration of medicines and medical supplies in Russia with the participation of Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanayee at Moscow Holiday Hotel.
Addressing the seminar, the Iranian ambassador expressed his satisfaction with the seminar and stressed the role of such meetings in the development of relations between the two countries in the field of pharmaceutical and medical industries.
He noted that there are great potentials for the development of cooperation between the two countries in this field.
By signing an agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, the Iranian side has found a complementary capacity to its potential in this area to supply its products to the huge Eurasian market.
The idea for Russia to provide the loan to Iran was first conceived in 2015, but the final documents were signed only in September this year.
The loan will be used mainly in the construction of a 1,400 megawatt thermal power plant in Sirik in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province at a cost of $1.2 billion and electrification of a 500 km railway line linking Garmsar in central Iran to the Inche Burun border with Turkmenistan at about $1 billion, he said Wednesday.
"For the remainder of the $5 billion, lost of follow-up work was done which fortunately yielded results just recently,” Ardekanian told reporters in Tehran.
Part of the credit line, he said, will be used to finance building 2,000 train carriages for use in inner city transportation and to build a railway between Zahedan in southeast to Birjand in northeast Iran.
The rest will be used in expanding Gotvand hydropower plant's capacity to 1,640 MW from 1,000 MW and create another 180 MW capacity at natural gas-fired Ramin power plant in Ahvaz.
Ardekanian said delegates from Iran’s ministry of finance, the central bank, ministry of industry, mine and trade and ministries of transportation and energy will attend final negotiations in Moscow Thursday.
Russia and Iran signed the deal to electrify the Garmsar to Inche Burun line during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran in November 2015.
The railway line extends into Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, linking Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and beyond.
The contract covers design, sourcing of materials and equipment and construction of 32 stations and 95 tunnels, 7 traction substations, 11 section pillars, 6 duty posts of the contact station and the power supply administration building.
In 2017, Russia’s largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment, CJSC Transmashholding, signed a $2.5 billion deal with IDRO Group in Tehran for joint production of rolling stock in Iran.
Transmashholding will hold an 80% stake in the joint venture, taking over Iran’s Wagon Pars Company to produce railroad cars in the country.
And also, in other cooperative area between the countries, senior Iranian and Russian health officials in a meeting in Moscow stressed the importance of cooperation in area of exporting medicine and medical equipment.
During the meeting in Moscow, the Iranian and Russian deputy health ministers discussed ways for export of medical supplies.
The meeting was held within the framework of the Joint Commission on Cooperation between the two countries and within the framework of a one-day seminar on the terms and conditions for registration of medicines and medical supplies in Russia with the participation of Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanayee at Moscow Holiday Hotel.
Addressing the seminar, the Iranian ambassador expressed his satisfaction with the seminar and stressed the role of such meetings in the development of relations between the two countries in the field of pharmaceutical and medical industries.
He noted that there are great potentials for the development of cooperation between the two countries in this field.
By signing an agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, the Iranian side has found a complementary capacity to its potential in this area to supply its products to the huge Eurasian market.