Italy to build 1,200 km highway in Iran

(AGI) Rome, July 15 - ANAS, the Italian Roads and Highways National Agency, and the Iranian Minister of Roads and Transportation signed a framework agreement on Thursday awarding ANAS International Enterprise - AIE, a subsidiary of the ANAS Group, the construction and management of a 1,200 kilometre highway in Iran for a total value of 3.6 billion euros. The agreement, made official in the presence of Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Graziano del Rio, and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, was signed by ANAS Chairman, Gian Vittorio Armani, AIE Chief Executive Officer, Bernardo Magri', and Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Transportation, Asghar Kashan, at the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. "The agreement represents the outcome of a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Italy and Iran signed on February 10 in Tehran, entrusting ANAS International Enterprise with carrying out an economic and technical feasibililty study with a view to completing the infrastructure of the North-South road corridor in Iran. The corridor runs for 1,200 kilometers from the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini on the Persian Gulf to the northern border with Turkey in the vicinity of Bazargan, going through the city of Tabriz," it was explained in an official note. The feasibility study, delivered in Tehran on July 5, has led to the identification of a first priority leg of the corridor - 350 kms, to be completed by 2022 and managed subject to a licensing regime through a public-private project financing mechanism. The investment will be in the range of 600 million euros and will be guaranteed by tolls and a public contribution. The remaining leg equals 830 kilometers and runs through a mountainous terrain, which will imply much higher investments - approx. 3 billion euros. In light of lower traffic volumes, this second leg will take a much longer time to be completed. Following the above framework agreement, there will be another phase during which technical and financial issues wil be further assessed and at the end of which a first executive concession contract will be signed. Planning, building and securing the concession contract of the North-South Corridor is proof to a renewed cooperation between Italy and Iran. A cooperation effort ANAS has contributed to by participating in governmental missions both in Rome and in Tehran." . .