BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 17. Iran places strong emphasis on increasing its transit potential, reducing transportation costs, and deepening economic integration with neighboring countries, said Houshang Bazvand, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and head of Iran's Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC), Trend reports.
Speaking at a press conference held at the 9th Transportation, Logistics, and Related Industries Exhibition in Tehran, Bazvand noted that extensive work is underway on numerous projects aimed at developing transport infrastructure across the country. Within the framework of existing projects, four selected major highway corridors occupy a strategic position in Iran’s regional transportation network, serving as a key backbone for expanding trade, transit, and logistics ties with neighboring states.
The official said that to ensure these routes become fully functional, the construction of approximately 770 kilometers of auxiliary roads is considered necessary. These additional routes will connect main highways to border crossings, industrial zones, and logistics centers.
The deputy minister added that shifting these initiatives from the drawing board to the real deal could go a long way in boosting Iran’s regional transit capacity, cutting transportation costs, and knitting together economic ties with neighboring countries.
Bazvand also pointed out that seven major corridors in the highway sector are currently at the implementation stage under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. Among these projects, one of the most strategically important is the Caspian Sea-Persian Gulf corridor, which stretches from the Chalus district in Mazandaran Province in the north to the Mahshahr district in Khuzestan Province in the southwest. Approximately fifty-three percent of this project is being constructed with private sector participation. This strategy lightens the load on the state budget while opening up a world of north–south transit possibilities, tightening the bonds of inter-port connectivity, and bolstering Iran’s standing as a key player in regional logistics.
The company official further stated that the Western Corridor, which holds special importance among the country’s main highway routes, has been formed within the concept of a national transportation belt.
“This corridor starts from the Bazargan border crossing on the border with Türkiye, extends to the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq, continues to the Port of Chabahar in the southeast, and heads toward the Sarakhs border crossing in the northeast before returning to the Bazargan border to form a circular logistics route.
This structure is designed to integrate transit connections along Iran’s west–south–southeast–northeast axis into a single hub, optimize domestic transport flows, and strengthen the country’s role in regional and international trade routes,” Bazvand said.
Iran possesses significant transit potential, strategically situated as a vital conduit between Central Asia, the Persian Gulf, India, Russia, and Europe, with an estimated capacity of 200 million tons annually, substantially surpassing current volumes of approximately 12-20 million tons in 2024-2025, hindered by sanctions and infrastructural deficiencies, particularly in rail.
Strategic assets such as Chabahar Port and the North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) are being built in collaboration with partners including India, Russia, and Azerbaijan to realize this potential, with the objective of facilitating the movement of commodities by road, rail, and maritime routes, notwithstanding existing infrastructure deficiencies and financial limits.
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