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Latest figures and indexes are suggesting growing prosperity in Iran’s Southeastern port city of Chabahar where economic indicators are witnessing multiple jumps.
Managing Director of Ports and Maritime Organization of Sistan and Baluchistan Behrouz Aqayee announced on Saturday that exports from Chabahar Port have increased by 190% in the 11 months ending on February 20. 2020.
Thanks to the applied modern technologies in the Iranian port. loading and unloading of goods boosted 41 percent in the said time. compared to the same period in the year before. he said.
As of March 21 to the present time. loading and unloading of oil cargoes in Chabahar port have increased 50 percent and exports of non-oil goods have grown 28 percent. year-on-year. he added.
The Director General of Sistan and Baluchistan Road Maintenance and Transportation Department General Ayyoub Kord said earlier on January 1 that import of basic goods via Chabahar Port registered a 238 percent growth in the nine months of the current year (March 21-Dec. 22) as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.
He stated. A number of 11 vessels carrying basic goods and staples have been docked in Chabahar Port in this period. showing an 83 percent hike in the number of ships docked at the port as compared to the same period of last year.
He went on to say that Chabahar Port enjoys high capability and potential in unloading basic goods timely. adding. with the increasing trend of loading and unloading operation of these types of goods. suitable ways have been provided for exporting products via this port.
He pointed to the salient specifications of the port and said. Connecting to the free waters of the Indian Ocean and locating en route international transport corridors are the eye-catching strength of Chabahar port.
Iran and India have finalized talks on ratification of preferential tariffs on specific equipment needed for implementation of Iranian Chabahar Port project.
Last month. India’s finance ministry announced that budget earmarked for the country’s development work at the ocean port of Chabahar would double in 2020-2021 to reach nearly $14 million.
Reports in the Indian media suggested that the budget announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a day earlier had allocated Rs100 crore (one billion rupees) to the country’s foreign ministry for the purpose of development of Chabahar port.
The fund is more than double the amount allocated in the 2019-2020 budget which was Rs45 crore or $6.3 million. said the reports. adding that the increase in the funds had been facilitated by a recent agreement between India and the US. the country which maintains a harsh regime of sanctions against Iran.
India seeks to develop Chabahar. located on the Sea of Oman. to have an alternative trade route to the landlocked Afghanistan and further to the Central Asia region via bypassing its rival and neighbor Pakistan.
The development work. first agreed with Iran in 2003. has stumbled in recent years mainly because of American sanctions on Iran that make it difficult for Indian companies to engage in projects in Chabahar.
However. a meeting between Indian and US authorities in Washington in December ensured that India could get fresh exemptions for work in Chabahar.
Indian media reports suggested that US Department of Treasury had issued a confirmation of the special exemption from Iran sanctions for India mainly on conditions that Iran’s elite military force the IRGC would not be involved in the operations at Chabahar.
The reports said that doubling the amount of annual budget for India’s work at Chabahar would prove to Iran and Afghanistan that New Delhi is determined to develop the port despite reports over the past year suggesting that the Indians were no longer interested in the project because of the increasing American pressure.
