Tehran Comprehensive Plan has drawn certain mechanisms to provide housing for the city's surplus population.

TEHRAN, May 28--Latest estimates suggest that the population of Tehran City has reached 7.5 million, said the deputy mayor for urban development.
Jalil Habibollah told ISNA that the city would have the capacity for only 1.1 million more residents.
“However, we expect the capital city’s population to reach 11 million people, if the current trend continues,“ he maintained, stressing that the city will face numerous social welfare-related challenges, if the necessary infrastructure is not made available.
He said Tehran will have its comprehensive plan ratified by late December, adding that work on the groundbreaking plan started in mid-2004 in cooperation with a number of environmental, traffic and natural disaster experts.
“Tehran Comprehensive Plan has drawn certain mechanisms to provide housing for the city’s surplus population,“ he said, adding that according to the draft plan, not all the residents should live in the city of Tehran.
“Relevant studies also show that the capital city can no longer expand to the north, west and east,“ he said.
The municipality official said the comprehensive plan will not prohibit new constructions, including high-rises, stressing, however, that construction will have to be based on scientific principles.

There are some 8.5 million mobile phone subscribers in Iran.

TEHRAN, May 28--The Article One Commission of the government has reportedly approved the surprise 60-percent import tariff on mobile phone imports defying calls by handset sellers not to agree to the move which has already disrupted the market.
According to Fars news agency, the commission has ordered executive bodies, including the Commerce Ministry, Iran Customs Administration and the Ministry of Industries and Mines, to enforce the tariff.
Tariff charged on mobile phone imports was as low as four percent before the government added another 56 percent to make it 60.
Handset prices have gone up drastically since a few days ago, when the news of a likely decision on higher tariffs broke.
The Parliament had already committed the government to increase the average import tariffs from 10 to maximum 16 percent, whereas the government has augmented handset import tariffs by 56 percent to make up for the recent decision to relax imports of steel and fruits.
Mobile phone industry is booming in Iran where 11 million text messages are sent each day, earning the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI) some 52 billion rials per month.
There are some 8.5 million mobile phone subscribers in Iran.
Iranians sent 420 million short messages during the Norouz holidays in late March.
TCI announced earlier that it will provide nine million new mobile phone SIM cards by next March.
The Second Operator will offer three million SIM cards this summer, when the country’s only credit SIM card provider Taliya has pledged to provide 1.5 million.
The mobile phone network is expected to witness a huge rise in the number of SIM cards this year as the Council of Economy has given the go-ahead for supplying an additional four million SIM cards.
Experts believe that given the huge rise in the number of SIM cards, the 60-percent handset import tariffs will only give rise to smuggling of the product.

TEHRAN, May 28--A senior lawmaker said here on Sunday that oil bourse must be established as soon as possible, stressing that the implementation of the protracted project has now become a necessity.
Kamal Daneshyar, who heads Majlis Energy Commission, told ISNA that once the oil bourse becomes operational, some $10 billion is added to the country’s annual revenues.
The lawmaker said the bourse will also make oil deals ever more transparent.
“The country’s revenues from selling petroleum and oil derivatives will increase in the wake of the establishment of the oil bourse,“ he said.
MPs are pressing hard for the quick establishment of the oil bourse.
Mohammad Karimian, a member of Majlis Energy Commission, said earlier that the Parliament will provide ’whatever support’ needed from for the key initiative.
He said, however, that ’nothing serious has been done toward establishing the oil bourse’.
Experts say the success of an Iranian oil bourse would depend much on cooperation from other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a much-needed consensus with the Arab Persian Gulf States.
Iran is the world’s fourth largest producer of crude oil and the second biggest exporter within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

NAJAF, Iraq, May 28--Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday his country was ready to help Iraq with an economic investment plan totaling $1 billion, according to Turkish Press.
“We are planning seven projects in the fields of oil, electricity, hospital construction and other services,“ he told reporters during his visit to the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
“The Islamic Republic has set aside nearly one billion dollars to help Iraq,“ he said, adding that the Iranians were ready to implement the projects.
He said the projects could be implemented in the southern Shiite provinces or in the northern Kurdish ones.
While in Najaf, Mottaki prayed at the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites.
He also met a number of religious leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani and radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, who are influential on Iraqi politics.
Mottaki was in Baghdad on Friday where he pledged his support for Iraq’s new government and promised to aid its reconstruction effort.

TEHRAN, May 28--Iran’s first-ever private sector rail transportation services will be operational within 10 months, said a senior rail transportation official here on Sunday.
According to Iran’s Economic News Agency, Ahmad Pour-Barkhordar, deputy head of the national rail service, Raja, said at a ceremony to sign the first private sector contract with a Chinese company for purchase of 112 trains that the $68-million project will transport 1.5 million passengers across Iran.
“Ghoghnous Ferdows Barin (GFB) (of Iran) and the Chinese firm CMC have signed this groundbreaking contract which will help increase rail transportation capacity by 1.5 million passengers a year,“ he said.
He added that the trains will serve the main routes, including Tehran-Mashhad, Tehran-Bandar Abbas, Tehran-Khorramshahr and Tehran-Ahvaz.
The official noted that the rail transportation authorities have now turned to private sector involvement in rail industry development projects due to shortage of funds.
Iran’s first private company to manufacture train carriages also went into operation in the southern province of Kerman last year.
Zarand Company manufactures various kinds of carriages, including those used in train transportation as well as underground urban railways network.
The company has pledged to provide the national rail transportation fleet with wagons and carriages at half the price the country currently imports.
Leading manufacturer, state-owned Pars Wagon produces less than 100 wagons a year.
Experts say low train fares have discouraged private companies from participating in rail industry projects.
Some 80 million passengers travel by rail each year.

TEHRAN, May 28--A business forum titled ’Your Pathway to Business with Indonesia’ was held here on Sunday at the residence of Indonesian ambassador in the presence of some officials from Indonesia and businessmen from both countries to promote ties between Iran and Indonesia particularly in the trade and economy sectors.
In an interview with CHN, Basri Hasanuddin, ambassador of Indonesia in Tehran talked about the current state of business ties between Iran and his country and said that Iran and Indonesia have great potentials in establishing relationships in different areas.
Following a memorandum of understanding between the two countries, some facilities have been provided for issuing visas for citizens of both countries.
In fact the government of Indonesia has decided to enlist Iran as a country whose citizens enjoy the ’visa-on-arrival’ facility to visit Indonesia, he noted.
Elaborating on the new visa facility and the positive impacts it would have on tourist exchanges between the two countries, Hasanuddin added, “This facility would lead into promoting tourism by increasing the number of tourists from Indonesia to Iran and vise versa.
“Iran has a rich cultural background and I am interested in making the Indonesians familiar with this rich culture.“
Hundreds of thousands of people travel to Mecca on pilgrimage each year and they would like to visit other Muslim countries including Iran on their way.“
He noted that economic exchange between Iran and Indonesia reached $388 million this year showing a 45 percent growth compared to the figure for last year.
“This figure is much less than the potentials both countries have and we still need to work a lot in expanding trade relationship between Iran and Indonesia,“ said Hasanuddin.
On the objectives of holding of such a session, the ambassador said, “This session is held with the presence of businessmen from both countries for increasing the level of economic exchanges and it is a good way to let the representatives of both sides get to know the activities of each other and find new policies to increase trade.“
Indonesia’s major exports to the Middle East include food, paper, wooden materials and textile.

Private steel companies continue to grapple with inadequate supplies of raw materials and poor financial conditions.

TEHRAN, May 28--The 70-percent rise in steel prices has raised the risk of the construction sector plunging into a yet greater crisis as it already suffers from a prolonged recession.
Mojtaba Bigdeli, a member of the Association of Mass Constructors, told ISNA that at a time when steel prices are on the rise, cement prices have also increased significantly.
He criticized the Tehran Metals Exchange for failing to fulfill its obligations.
“Copper prices have also risen drastically in the past two years,“ he said, adding that the exchange is to blame for the high prices of steel and iron rods.
“No one dares to invest in the construction industry,“ he said, adding that if the situation continues, the sector will face huge financial problems.
He predicted that housing prices will go up by 80 percent, if steel prices remain high.
The government has faced a dilemma regarding steel production, imports and exports.
While private steel companies continue to grapple with inadequate supplies of raw materials and poor financial conditions, a steel industry official said earlier that 2.5 million tons of the strategic product was exported to 40 countries in the year to March 2006.
Mohammad Reza Torabi, a member of Association of Steel Exporters and Producers, said steel imports reached seven million tons in the period, when domestic production amounted to 10 million tons.
He lambasted what he called was the ’overnight decision’ to cut steel import tariffs to zero, stressing that the decision will only worsen unemployment.

TEHRAN, May 28--Visiting Syrian minister of economy and finance said here Saturday that his country is interested in closer economic ties with Iran, IRNA reported.
Amir Husni Lutfi said in a meeting with Iranian Commerce Minister Massoud Mirkazemi that following the meeting of the two presidents, the Iran-Syria Supreme Committee met in Damascus to explore various ways of expanding bilateral cooperation.
The committee studied the activities already carried out to find a solution to problems faced by companies of the two countries, he added.
He called for increasing trade and investments between the two nations by holding exhibitions and forming a free trade zone based on a preferential trade agreement.
He said a list of Iranian products which are eligible for preferential tariffs should be drawn up.
For his part, Mirkazemi called for closer ties in all areas between the two nations.
He said that preferential tariffs should be a positive step towards bolstering mutual relations.
Iranian companies have invested in projects for reconstruction and development of the electricity power plant and oil refinery in Banias.
The volume of cooperation between Iran, including export of technical and engineering services as well as industrial projects--either half-finished or completed ones--made operational by Iranian companies in Syria, has been estimated at $750 million, he added.

TEHRAN, May 28--Iran’s Ambassador in Lisbon Mohammad Taheri conferred with Portuguese Agriculture Minister Joachim Silva on agricultural cooperation between the two countries.
According to IRNA, at the meeting, the Portuguese minister expressed his country’s readiness to expand cooperation in the field of fishery, paper mill, olive plantation and in exchanging of information between agricultural research institutes of the two countries.
Taheri, for his part, explained Iran’s progress in the agriculture sector, including self-sufficiency in wheat production and its impact on national gross production.