Tehran, Iran, June 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The General Inspection Office (GIO) of Iran has revoked a contract about importing 500 wagons, GIO chief Nasser Seraj said.
"According to governmental regulation and orders by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic revolution, organizations and ministries are banned to import something we can produce domestically," he told Tasnim news agency.
The report adds the GIO has initiated a series of comprehensive actions to monitor actions inside the country that go against the state economic policies.
A January 20 report said that a private company in Iran had lease-purchased 500 cargo wagons from Russia. Deputy Minister of Transport of Iran Mohsen Pourseyyed Aghaei in reference to the contract had said then that the most suitable way for Iranian companies to acquire wagons is lease-purchasing.
He had pointed out that as the country is developing its railways, the need for more wagons will arise. Aghaei went on to say that talks are held to lease-purchase passenger wagons as well.
Iran's transport sector has remained underdeveloped due to mismanagement as well as international sanctions.
The imports were discussed at a time when Iran is itself a producer of wagons. A May 16 report said the major Iranian wagon maker Pars Wagon was operating at 25 percent of its full capacity because of scanty liquidity with railway companies and too few orders from customers.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the country to abide to what he calls the policies of "resistance economy," which requires minimum dependence on overseas resources in order to prevent security problems and vulnerability.
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