Younes Jaeleh, the head of the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture, emphasized the necessity of accelerating the implementation of the Aras water transfer project to Tabriz and stated that the future of East Azerbaijan's industry depends on this project. Jaeleh, in a meeting dedicated to examining the water needs of industries and identifying units interested in participating in this project, warned that if the water shortage problem continues, major industries such as steel and petrochemicals will face the risk of water restrictions and outages.
Suggestions for Financing the Project
Jaeleh pointed out the strategic importance of this project for the sustainable water supply of the province's industries and suggested that investors and industrial unit operators, especially in the Rafsanjani, Basit, Salimi, and Shahid Soleimani industrial parks, secure the necessary financial resources for completing the project through pre-purchasing water in the coming years. According to forecasts, 147 million cubic meters of the transferred water will be allocated to the industrial sector.
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Serious Water Supply Issues
Jaeleh also referred to other problems faced by the province's industries and added: today, industries are not only facing water shortages but also experiencing power outages. In the Shahid Salimi industrial park, the salinity of the water has increased to such an extent that it is practically unusable. He suggested that the Aras water transfer project be divided into 10 executable sections and that the private sector take responsibility for constructing and implementing its various parts.
Jaeleh noted that this project has been approved since the 1980s but has yet to be completed. He emphasized that while the sweet water resources of Aras are being directed towards the sea without proper utilization, the province's industries are grappling with serious water supply issues. Therefore, serious efforts must be made to complete this project within six months.
Furthermore, Jafar Moharrampour, the secretary of the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, referred to the topic of private sector participation in the Aras water transfer project and stated that this issue was raised about three weeks ago in the Chamber of Commerce. He added that several production units have expressed readiness to participate in financing and pre-purchasing water, and the purpose of holding this meeting is to summarize these initial proposals and assess the level of participation of industrial units.
Moharrampour also emphasized the necessity of converting the proposals into a mutual understanding with the government and stated: for the implementation of this plan, about $200 million of joint resources between Iran and Azerbaijan has been projected, which is estimated to be worth about 53 trillion tomans. The government alone does not have sufficient resources to fully complete the project, and private sector participation can play a decisive role in advancing it.
Finally, it was decided that the industrial parks located along the water transfer route would urgently hold a meeting with their high-consumption units to formally announce their water needs in writing.
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