Capacity of Chabahar Port in Iran increases

TEHRAN, Iran, July 8 Trend: The capacity of Chabahar port in Iran has increased from 2.5 million tons to 8.5 million tons, Iran's president Hassan Rouhani said, Trend reports citing IRNA. "The government's aim was to develop Sistan and Baloucheshtan Province. Improving the capacity of Chabahar Port is a big change for the province, Iran and the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) transit," said Rouhani. "Installing Chabahar railway, and connecting Chabahar – Zahedan railway to Iran's railway network was one of the important steps in development of the area, west of the country," he said. "The railway is being set up after several years of work that cost more than $470 million. The work has already started in Zahedan and will also kick off in Chabahar in the coming months," Rouhani said. "The Ministry of Road and Urban Development is to connect the railway from south of the country to Iranshahr and Zahedan to Khash by the end of the current Iranian year(started March 20,2020)," he said. Rouhani added that the government's plan was to implement the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), as it envisages connection of the railway in Chabahar to Central Asia, Caucasus, China, Russia and Europe. The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200 km long multi-modal network of ship, rail, and road routes for the transport of freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe. The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Baku, Astrakhan, Tehran, Bandar Abbas, and Bandar Anzali.