Iran Chabahar port has received its first shipment of port equipment worth $8.5 million from India as part of an agreement between the two countries, a provincial official said.
Director-General of Ports and Maritime Organization of Sistan and Baluchestan province in southeast of the country Behrouz Aghaei told IRNA on Sunday that the shipment included strategic unloading and loading equipment for Chabahar port which will be used to activate the contract for equipment and operation of Shahid Beheshti port.
He said the Indian side is committed to supply and import of unloading and loading equipment based on a long-term contract for development of Shahid Beheshti port.
The official further noted that the equipping and operating Shahid Beheshti Port is part of the obligations of the Indian firm and serves as a new model of equipping the country’s ports.
Highlighting the importance of the trans-regional function of Chabahar which is the country’s only ocean port in attracting foreign investment as well as domestic and foreign capital owners, he stressed that Indian investment in the port will not bar other countries from participating in other development project in the port
The equipment in southeastern strategic Iranian port of Chabahar, is capable of loading 15,000 tons of goods per day.
The fact shows a considerable increase in export and imprt of basic goods through Chabahar Port and Chabahar, the first Iranian port that is able to attract foreign operators.
Having joint borders with two neighboring countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran’s Chabahar can be a route to join Indian Ocean and Africa to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
After the completion of the first phase of Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar, it can play important role in marketing, can attract investors and facilitate the arrival of different ships and vessels.
As a national development project, it will also prepare the ground for fostering trade exchanges with neighboring states, including India, Oman and Afghanistan.
Indian operator in Shahid Beheshti Port with ten-year-long agreement is committed to provide 85-million-dollar worth of strategic equipment, the ownership of the equipment will be presented to Iran at the end of the agreement.
Chabahar Port, located in southeastern Iran on the Gulf of Oman, serves as Iran’s only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths.
