Strategic water reserves to amount to 70bn cm

TEHRAN, Sep. 28(MNA) – Deputy-minister of energy said country’s strategic water reserves are predicted to amount 79bn cubic meters by the end of Sixth Development Plan. Sattar Mahmoudi told a meeting of private sector entrepreneurs and parliamentarians on Tuesday held to address government, parliament, and private sector coordination to tackle hurdles on the way of investments in water and wastewater, that the current reserves were roughly 50bn cubic meters; “90 per cent of the water and wastewater industry had been indigenized, with only dependence of the sector being on precision measurement equipment which is imported; the Ministry welcomes and encourages domestic companies’ products of higher quality which would compete with foreign versions,” he added. “We ensure the private sector that with policies enshrined in Sixth Development Plan, boom will return to the industry; we predict to add another 20bn cubic meters to the country’s strategic water reserves by the end of the Plan; however the achievement requires implementation of many small and large projects where participation of private sector is highly valued,” Mahmoudi told the meeting. “By the end of the Plan, at least 500 cities should have renewed arrangements to provide water to ever-increasing population; we have plans to desalinate water, and by the end of the Plan, 1.6bn cubic meters of water will be desalinated.” “The Ministry also predict excellent grounds for private sector to work on county’s major projects. In line with these developments at horizon, we have now managed to secure $ 860mn of investments in private sector,” he concluded.