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I I r r a a n n E E c c o o n n o o m m y y U U p p d d a a t t e e
Issue 125/2016 – Wednesday November 16th Resolving air pollution
problem in Tehran needs a revolutionary overhaul in policy: official
With the heavy air pollution in Tehran seriously threatening health of millions of citizens and causing schools to be closed for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, officials are contemplating urgent plans to transfer polluting industrial units to the outskirt of the city. Fars News on Tuesday quoted the managing director of Tehran Province industrial Townships Company as saying that studies are being conducted by the Spatial Planning directorate of the
Management & Planning Organization (MPO) to transfer industrial enterprises in Tehran to the outskirt areas of the city. “The status of air pollution in Tehran has exacerbated to the point that its resolution requires a
revolutionary overhaul and the issue should be discussed and addressed at the level of senior leaders,” Mohammadreza Ghaheri told Fars. Press TV wrote on Tuesday that air pollution in Tehran has reached alarming levels. Tehran’s Air Pollution Emergency Committee has taken some force majeure decisions such as shutting down schools and extending restrictions on the movement of cars and penalizing
the smoke-belching vehicles.
According to the local media, the Air Quality Index in Tehran has reached the red zone which means the conditions are unhealthy for everyone.
According to ISNA, President Rouhani who was speaking today in Alborz Province said one of the major sources of air pollution in Tehran are the liquid flues feeding power plants, and explained that in the past three years, his government has done its best to have the plants being converted into natural gas as feedstock as a replacement to polluting liquid fuel and promised that from next year, all the power plants will be converted to natural gas. He also explained that his government has taken serious steps in getting the smoke-belching public and commercial vehicles off the streets. “Our next step in
addressing air pollution is making an overhaul in manufacturing domestic cars, which is one of our problems today, because the home-made cars are fuel
squandering and polluting,” said Rouhani. “We have made some strides for manufacturing
automobiles conforming to Euro 5 and Euro 6 standards,” he added.
One fifth of Iran’s planned electricity by 2020 would be from renewable sources
Sattar Mahmoudi, the vice
minister of Energy said on Tuesday that during the 6th Development Plan (2016-2020), the country’s electricity generation capacity will growth by 25,000 MW of which 5,000 MW would be supplied from renewable sources, Mehr News reported. Mahmoudi said 83% of Iran’s electricity is currently fossil- fuel-based and cited financial and technology shortfalls as
impediments for establishing renewable energy resources. He explained that potentially, Iran has the capacity of generating 60,000 MW of solar, 15,000 MW of wind, and 2,500 MW of Bio-fuel
electricity, which are significant amounts considering the country’s current total energy generation capacity of 76,000 MW. He said Iran will turn into the region’s energy hub by 2025, and added that the country is currently the world’s 14th and 19th nation in terms of electricity generation and consumption, respectively.
Mahmoudi said Iran’s electricity consumption growth rate has risen up from 3-4% previously to 5-6% now, which indicates it emerges out from recession and moves into growth.
Iran contemplates oil freeze scheme ahead of OPEC’s 171st ordinary session
We have two weeks to go before the OPEC’s 171st ordinary
2 ministerial meeting scheduled for
30 November. Before that, Russia is scheduled to hold informal talks on Nov 17-18 at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) meeting in Doha with a number of OPEC member states including Saudi Arabia to secure an oil-cut deal, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The OPEC ministers are supposed to finalize the preliminary output cut they agreed on in late
September in Algeria on the sidelines of an international energy summit. According to Bloomberg, since last week oil prices have lost the gain they had made in the wake of the Algeria meeting, as doubt over a
production cut grew again. OPEC countries are “all hands on deck to meet this target date of Nov. 30th and to implement in full the agreement,” OPEC Secretary- General Mohammed Barkindo said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg. Barkindo is scheduled to travel to Caracas, Quito and Tehran for talks in the coming days. An oil delegate has told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia is ready to cut production but it believes that Iraq needs to cut output and Iran has to freeze production around current levels of 4 million bpd. Meanwhile, Barkindo has confirmed that the three countries of Iran, Libya and Nigeria have been granted “special considerations” to implement the oil production cut accord.
Meanwhile, an informed oil delegate told Bloomberg that Iran
is considering a proposal to freeze its oil production near the level the country says it pumps -- nearly 4 million barrels a day.
President Rouhani says signs of recovery have emerged in Iran’s economy
In a speech he delivered this morning before the people of Alborz Province, President Rouhani ensured that the
projected economic growth rate of 5% will be realized this year, and underscored that statistics
indicate that during the first seven months of the current Persian year, 49.6% of loan facilities have been extended for the industrial, agricultural and service sector projects indicating that the
economy has taken strides toward growth. Rouhani said 15,000 SMEs (small and medium size
enterprises) have been established in the past seven months and proclaimed that all the governor general with whom he speaks confirm that initial signs of
economic recovery have emerged.
According to IRNA, Rouhani was speaking while he is on a
provincial trip to Alborz Province, situated 35 km west of Tehran.
In a direct jab at the hardline opponents who question the wisdom of the nuclear deal,
Rouhani said a $5 billion worth gas deal has recently been signed with France Total, along with a $400 million worth deal inked between Iran Khodro and Peugeot for manufacturing automobiles
conforming to Euro 5 and 6 standards. Also, he said, a $300 million worth car production deal has been signed between Saipa and Citroen. Rouhani accused domestic conservative and hardline media of trying to make the people disappointed [about the outcome of the nuclear deal and the government] and accused them of trying to foment discord between the government and people, between the government and the armed forces, and among the three power branches.
Rouhani also assured that Iran will comply with its JCPOA obligations but warned [foreign powers] not to fool the Iranian people, the Supreme Leader, and the country’s armed forces.
Iranian and Chinese housing ministers met in Beijing Iran’s minister of Road & Urban Development Abbas Akhundi met his Chinese counterpart in Beijing and negotiated developing cooperation and using Chinese experience especially in
renovating distressed urban areas, IRNA reported today. Chen
Zhenggao, China’s minister of Housing & Rural/Urban
Development told Akhundi that developing bilateral cooperation in housing sector can be expanded into other related areas of
cooperation, and that his country is ready to share experiences in this regard with Iran.
