A total of Rls.105,000 billion (some US$12 billion) would be invested to develop urban and rural water and sewage systems within the next five years, said Abbas Shafi’ii, Iran's deputy minister of energy for water and sewage affairs on Sunday.
Quoted by MNA, he said investments worth Rls.41,000 billion and Rls.25,000bn are needed respectively for developing the urban water sector and urban sewage within the next five years. Shafi’ii added that potable water use indicator will amount to 100 percent and the sewage use indicator will go up from its current rate of 23 percent to 40 percent in the cities within the said period.
In the villages, the potable water indicator will rise to 87 percent from its current rate of just 6 percent, and the sewage use indicator will rise up from the present level of 5 percent to 8 percent in the same period, Shafi’ii further stated.
The deputy noted that considering the national standards in rendering water and sewage services, formulating and implementing the essential regulations preventing contamination of the water resources, and improving the consumption models are issues essential to be considered in the water and sewage industry in the upcoming years.
