Iran draws €50 mln from sovereign wealth fund to pipe water to villages
The Iranian government is drawing some €50 million from the country’s sovereign wealth fund to solve water problems for villages.
Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said hundreds of more villages would have access to clean water by late March 2021 when current fiscal year ends in the country.
A total of 859 villages with 54,000 people were provided with drinking water over the previous calendar year ending March 2020.
Estimates show the figure could more than double this year as piped water is planned to reach homes in more than 1,800 villages across the country.
Tapping into the National Development Fund of Iran (NDF) needs permission from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Ardakanian said the permission has been granted on a yearly basis since 2013 when the current administrative government came into office while adding that the government would be authorized to use €50 million more this year to speed up water projects in villages.
Nearly seven million people living in villages in Iran have been provided with clean water over the past seven years, Ardakanian said recently.
He said using NDF funds, which has become possible since 2013, had led to an eight-fold increase in the number of villages in Iran with access top piped water.
Iran is spending heavily to expand key infrastructure in the countryside as it seeks to spur growth in rural areas to prevent migration into large cities.
Almost all villages in Iran have currently access to electricity as the country nears a full electrification rate.
Government figures show that more than 81 percent of all villages across Iran would have access to drinking water by summer of 2021.
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