Petrochemical production will reach 32 million tons by the yearend (March 2008).

Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh stated that 27 petrochemical projects are currently under construction.
Speaking to IRIBNews late Tuesday in Mahshahr Port, Khuzestan province, the minister promised that one petrochemical plant will become operational each month in the year to March 2008.
He predicted that petrochemical production will reach 32 million tons by the yearend (March 2008).
The minister noted that the figure is projected to hit 65 million tons by the end of the fifth five-year development plan (2010-2015).
Assuring that economic sanctions imposed by the US have no impacts on implementing petrochemical projects, Vaziri Hamaneh these complexes are being built by young Iranian university graduates.
He stressed that the country is fast moving toward self-sufficiency in implementing petrochemical and industrial projects.
Turning to gasoline rationing, the minister stated that the government plans to spend part of the savings from the implementation of the program on developing refineries.
Construction of Bandar Abbas liquefied gas refinery and development of Isfahan and Arak refineries are among these projects, he concluded.
The policy to develop refineries is on the government agenda. Late July, the Economic Council allocated over 20,000 billion rials from domestic funds to increase refining capacity as well as encourage the participation of private investors in the sector.
Meanwhile, deputy oil minister in petrochemical affairs announced that Iran will build petrochemical complexes in Venezuela, Oman, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Gholamhossein Nejabat told PIN on Wednesday that negotiations are underway with Indonesia to boost economic cooperation.
The Asian countries have jointly begun construction of a petrochemical plant in Iran and one such complex will be built by both countries in Indonesia or Singapore, he stressed.
He added that the same measures are followed in participation with Venezuela and Oman.
Nejabat noted that Venezuela and Iran are constructing a one-million-ton ethanol petrochemical unit in hydrocarbon-rich Asalouyeh Port, Bushehr province.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the project in Asalouyeh was held last month with the participation of Iranian and Venezuelan residents. Some two billion dollars will be needed to make the project operational in 2010.
According to him, both countries will build with the same features in Iran.
A joint Iran-Oman urea and ammonic project is planned in Iran and one PVC complex in Oman in future, the official explained.
Turning to a heavy polyethylene in the Philippines, Nejabat stated that the project will come on stream in the near future.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Davoud Danesh-Jafari said that transparency in financial statement is essential for implementing Article 44 of the Constitution and privatization drive.
“One of the main rules for implementing the article is assessing transparently and correctly the value of state companies which are to be privatized,“ he underscored.
According to IRIBNews, the article seeks large-scale privatization in key economic sectors which were off limit for private enterprises for almost three decades.
Speaking at a conference on transparency in financial statement and banking system, Danesh-Jafari regretted that in the past the privatization drive was sluggish due to under-pricing of state firms.
The minister stated that if banks are also transparent in their financial statements, it would help improve the performance of the national economy.
He said that transparent information can be used in financial assessment of economic institutes, drafting of national monetary policies, pricing of domestically produced goods and analysis of brokerages.
Decision-making authorities, companies, tax and supervision organizations as well as new investors can also benefit from this information, the minister underlined.
He cited global standards based on which accountants publish the final results of accounting operations conducted for companies.
Such information, the minister said, helps companies analyze their performance and draw up policies.
Also, speaking at the gathering held at Tehran University’s Management Faculty on Tuesday, deputy minister announced that seven new financial and monetary institutions will be launched soon.
Hamid Pourmohammadi named the institutions as comprehensive data bank of customers, investment bank and institute for grouping clients.

Leading domestic carmaker Iran Khodro has drawn up a plan to produce diesel-powered vehicles within three years, the company’s managing director said.
Manoucher Manteqi noted that the only hindrance to the undertaking is a law banning the production of diesel cars across the country. Once the implications of this law are overcome, production of diesel cars will begin, he added.
The official explained that since domestically produced diesel has a higher level of sulfur than the standard, it is unsuitable for diesel cars, Fars reported.
He said that domestic refineries are rectifying their production process and by 2011, they are to produce 57 million liters of diesel annually which will conform to global standards and can be used in cars, he pointed out.
It is more beneficial to use diesel since its value-added is 36 percent lower than gasoline, he compared.
He observed that presently the company needs diesel cars for export. The factory is to procure engines for diesel cars from other companies in the first phase and produce the engines itself in the second phase.
If diesel engine is installed on Iranian-designed Peugeot 206 SD, its export will exceed 32,000 from the current level of 25,000, he asserted. The company is working to make 206-SD cars diesel-fueled, he concluded.
Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham recently announced that diesel rationing is not on the government’s agenda. He however stated that experts are involved in studying plans to issue smart cards for diesel consumers. “For the time being it is just a plan aimed at managing diesel consumption in Iran and preventing smuggling,“ Elham stated.
He said that gasoline smart cards had checked smuggling and irregular consumption.
Iran, world’s second largest oil producer, started rationing petrol nationwide in late June, allocating 100 liters per month to each private car at 0.108 dollars per liter for normal and 0.151 dollars for premium. The quota for government-owned cars has been put at 300 liters per month and for taxis at 800.

The Tupolev Tu-204 is a twin-engine medium-range Russian airliner capable of carrying 212 passengers.

Iran has ordered several Tupolev 204 (TU-204) passenger aircraft from the Russian company, secretary of Iran’s Aviation Companies Association announced on Wednesday.
Mehdi Aliyari told ISNA that the contract has been finalized between the Iranian and Russian sides and Tupolev Company is to deliver the aircraft within the next 18 months.
The Tupolev Tu-204 is a twin-engine medium- range Russian airliner capable of carrying 212 passengers. First introduced in 1989, it is considered to be broadly equivalent to the Boeing 757.
He stressed that Iranian airliners are grappling with financial hardships and the flight bans imposed by the United States have aggravated the situation.
Last year, White House announced its intention to lift flight ban against Iran. Several months later, Iran’s minister of roads and transportation termed the US announcement a propaganda ploy. Mohammad Rahmati stated that despite all the hue and cry, the Bush administration has not acted on this.
According to the official, Iranian airliners are unable to charter planes from eastern countries due to the growth in global aviation business.
Aliyari suggested that airfares have to be made liberal, other strategies have to be worked out to improve the difficult condition Iran’s aviation companies are wrestling with.

The country will participate in the construction of a 150-km railroad in Saudi Arabia, IRNA quoted the Trade Development Organization of Iran as reporting.
According to the report, the contract to implement part of the project was signed between OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia during Iran’s specialized exhibition which was held in Riyadh about three months ago.
Other agreements between Tehran and Riyadh include the export of 2,000 Iranian manufactured passenger vehicles.
Iranian specialists and engineers are to construct a detergent factory and one lead production line in the oil-rich Persian Gulf country.
Trade Development Organization of Iran has begun extensive efforts to secure a foothold in Arab markets, particularly those in the Middle East. It seems these markets would welcome Iranian goods and engineering services.
Meanwhile, the organization announced on Tuesday that transactions between Iran and Middle East’s Arab countries reached $16 billion in the year to March 2007.
Trade between the Islamic Republic and Persian Gulf Arab states of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as Yemen made up close to 27 percent of the amount.

Department of Environment (DoE) has warned that Bakhtegan National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is on the brink of an environmental disaster and degeneration, ISNA wrote.
The top environmental body blamed construction of several dams across rivers supplying water to Bakhtegan Lake in southern Fars province for the situation, underlining that a major part of the natural habitat has become saline because of the dams.
Bakhtegan receives a bulk of its water from Kor River. Therefore, construction of Sivand, Mollasadra and Doroudzan dams over the river has led to a very significant drop in the lake’s water inflow. The dams have been constructed without conducting environmental evaluations.
“So far, 2,000 flamingo chicks and young flamingos have perished and close to 2,500 are grappling with the salinity of the lake,“ the report noted.
Fars environmental guards have begun rescuing the chicks and young flamingos and transferring them to nearby Tashak Lake in cooperation with local communities and conservationists.
Deputy head of provincial Department of Environment, Zahrabi stated that the wildlife sanctuary home to precious flora and fauna is of paramount environmental importance.
The habitat is under threat, he reiterated, warning that if the current condition continues, an environmental crisis would emerge.
On the impacts of water shortage in the park, the official stated that the adverse environmental phenomenon would lead to a decline in underground resources, increase in salinity of fresh underground water and destruction of adjacent farmlands.
Bakhtegan, Iran’s second largest lake, is wintering grounds of migratory birds.
Stretching 350,000 hectares, the lake is located 160 km off Shiraz, near Neyriz.
It was registered as Iran’s fourth international wetland on Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1973.

Currently, the number of jobless has dropped to 2.9 million.

About 1.2 million and 1.3 million people would have joined the ranks of the unemployed in 2005 and 2006 respectively, if the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs had not taken measures to create jobs in the last two years, Labor Minister Mohammad Jahromi said.
Speaking at a gathering of economic editors of domestic newspapers, he estimated the number of people eligible for employment at 52 million people, of whom 26 million are between 15 and 30 years, and 17 million are between 20 and 29 years, Persian daily Hamshahri wrote.
The minister pointed out that nine million people between the ages of 20 and 24 are now ready to enter the job market.
Pointing to the results of a recent census, he said that the number of jobless has dropped to 2.9 million. However since the figure is still high, the people may not understand the measures taken by the government to tackle unemployment, he added.
Jahromi said out of 1.25 million retirees, 800,000 are engaged in other occupations. Therefore, early retirement scheme, which is under study in Majlis, cannot have an impact on reducing unemployment, he pointed out.
He put the number of jobless rural population at 1.1 million, adding creating new jobs for job-seeking villagers is not possible except by creating small businesses in those regions.
The minister contended that reducing unemployment depends on promoting job market. He termed the increase in the number of approvals for investment, rise of issuance of construction permits--in some cities by 100 percent--and upsurge in granting financial facilities to private sector from Foreign Exchange Reserve Account as signs of gradual recovery of job market.
On granting vouchers to workers, he said the value of vouchers has increased to 100,000 rials from 20,000 rials granted earlier.
He said unemployment insurance scheme should be revised, adding those who head the households and are jobless should be covered under the revised scheme.
Jahromi said in July that unemployment rate declined by 0.5 percent during March 21-June 21 compared to figure for the same period last year.
According to ISNA, he cited latest figures by Iran Statistics Center based on which unemployment rate reached 10.5 percent in the first quarter of the current Iranian year from March 21--an improvement of 11 percent from the same period last year. He noted that at present, the unemployment rate is single- or close to single-digit in 11 provinces.