The Aras water transfer project to Tabriz, as one of the key infrastructure plans in East Azerbaijan, has attracted attention in pursuit of sustainable water supply for major industries such as steel and petrochemicals in the province. As water resource limitations pose a serious threat to industrial activities, the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce is seeking to expedite the implementation of this project through collaboration with the private sector.
Meeting to Review Water Needs of Industries
In a meeting held to review the water needs of industries and identify interested units at the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, managers of industrial parks and production units located along the project route were present. The main focus of this meeting was to examine the financial participation capacity of industries and the use of a water pre-purchase model to secure the necessary resources for the project.
Younes Zaheleh, the President of the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, warned in this meeting about the consequences of continued water shortages and emphasized: "The future of the East Azerbaijan industry depends on the implementation of this project." He added that if the water shortage problem persists, major industries such as steel and petrochemicals will face the risk of water restrictions and outages.
Suggestions for Project Financing
Zaheleh also suggested that investors and economic actors participate in financing the project through water pre-purchases in the coming years. He stated: "To assist the government in completing this plan, investors in industrial parks must particularly secure the necessary financial resources through water pre-purchases."
Furthermore, the Secretary of the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, Jafar Moharrampour, referred to the proposed dimensions of private sector participation and said: "The idea of private sector participation was raised about three weeks ago and is being pursued by modeling the experience of transferring water from the Oman Sea to Isfahan." He also announced that some production units have expressed their readiness to participate in financing and pre-purchasing water.
Moharrampour regarding the financial resources of the project said: "About 200 million dollars of joint resources between Iran and Azerbaijan have been estimated for the implementation of this plan, which is equivalent to 53 trillion tomans." He emphasized that the government alone cannot fully secure the financial resources, and thus private sector participation can play a key role in advancing the project.
The Tabriz Chamber of Commerce also pointed to the increasing salinity of water in the Shahid Salimi industrial park and reported an increased water demand from industrial parks in the first phase by about 800 liters per second. These figures highlight the importance of securing sustainable water resources for production units in the province.
At the end of the meeting, it was decided that the industrial parks located along the project route would hold urgent meetings to formally announce their water needs so that more precise information could be provided to the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce for reviewing quotas and financial contributions from industries. This meeting is considered an important step towards securing sustainable water and implementing the Aras water transfer project to Tabriz.
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