Iranian Road Minister Mohammad Eslami informed on Sunday that efforts are underway to transform Inche Burun, city located next to the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway corridor, into a Free Economic Zone.
Iranian media outlets reported Eslami making the remarks in a ceremony for inauguration of 56 rail transportation projects.
The minister also said due to the works carried out during the recent years, Inche Burun railway, the international railroad connecting the northeastern city of Gorgan to the Inche Burun near the Turkmenistan border, will be inaugurated in the near future.
The Iran’s top railway official also noted that close to 1,000 kilometers of the railroad will be inaugurated throughout Iran by March 2022 adding that "we are to increase railway share of domestic transportation sector."
One of the main goals of the projects like Garmsar–Inche Burun, which extends to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and links the Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and beyond, is to facilitate trade within the region.
The development of railway infrastructure has been among the top-priority plans of the Iranian government in recent years. The country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021) has envisaged that the railway will account for at least 30% of cargo transportation and 20% of passenger transportation in Iran.
