BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. Iran has spent 9 trillion rials (about $214 million) on the part of the highway located in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, within the eastern route of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Trend reports.
On December 26, 38 kilometers of the highway in the eastern route of the INSTC was put into use in Iran. The Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash and other officials participated in the event held in this regard.
The INSTC has three routes on Iran's territory. The eastern route is Turkmenistan and Central Asian countries, the middle route is Russia and other countries via the Caspian Sea, and the western route is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Eastern European countries.
The length of the highways in the eastern route passing through the Iranian part of the INSTC is 1,771 kilometers. This highway starts from Chabahar port in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, passes through South Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan provinces and extends to Sarakhs and Bajgiran border terminals.
Nearly 646 kilometers of this highway are located in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Currently, 123 kilometers of the highway are in use, 205 kilometers are under construction. Also, research is being carried out on 318 kilometers part of the highway.
Some 17 kilometers of the part of the highway that is in use today is located between Chabahar and Iranshahr. For this purpose, four trillion rials (about $95.2 million) were spent. Meanwhile, 21 kilometers of that highway is located between Khash-Iranshahr. About 5 trillion rials (about $119 million) were spent on the construction of this section.
The foundation of the ‘International North-South Transport Corridor’ was laid on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000. In total, 13 countries have ratified the agreement, including Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Russia, Türkiye, etc.
The purpose of creating a corridor is to reduce the delivery time of cargo from India to Russia, as well as to North and West Europe. Delivery time on the current route is more than 6 weeks, it is expected to be reduced to 3 weeks via North-South Transport Corridor.
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