Rastad, who is also Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development, made the remarks in an interview with the Iranian official newspaper "IRAN."
After receiving the port equipment at Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar, the capacity of this strategic port will reach 33 million tons from 8.5, Rastad said.
The first part of the equipment which arrived in Chabahar about a month ago included two derricks with 8.5 million dollars worth, Rastad noted adding that India will give second port equipment to Iran in the next few days.
About the recent Maritime India Summit 2021 which also commemorates Chabahar Day to highlight the importance of this strategic port, Rastad said the development of Chabahar is of paramount importance.
Chabahar with its important strategic position is the main center for development. The port plays a key role in the exchange of goods among Central Asian states.
Thanks to having joint borders with two neighboring countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Chabahar can function as a route to join the Indian Ocean and Africa to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has already noted.
As Rastad underlined, the presence of India in the development of Chabahar is within the framework of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement for ten years.
In late November 2020, Director-General of Ports and Maritime Organization of the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan Behrooz Aqaei said Indian operator in Shahid Beheshti Port with the ten-year-long agreement is committed to providing 85-million-dollar worth of strategic equipment, and ownership of the equipment will be presented to Iran at the end of the agreement.
According to Rastad, the May 2016 landmark transit trade agreement on Chabahar Port between Iran, India and Afghanistan is a good ground for trilateral cooperation.
Also about the Chabahar-Zahedan railroad project in Sistan-Baluchestan, Rastad said the project, the main part of which is expected to be inaugurated in coming months will accelerate development in Chabahar.
In a related development, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami at his February speech to the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) Defense Ministers’ Conclave said "The Islamic Republic of Iran, in order to further benefit from its maritime potentials and to ensure security in the Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman, and Indian Ocean region, has prioritized the development of its maritime industry.
"Besides, it has made huge investments along its southern coastal lines such as the Makran and Chabahar. On other hand, Iran intends to tie the potentials of this region in the South with the potentials existing in the Caspian Sea in the North and to help to the development of the latter region as well."
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