TEHRAN – Iran’s National Development Fund (NDF) has allocated around $1.0 billion to strategic projects in the Makran region, as part of broader financing of infrastructure and production schemes in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, a senior official said.
Alireza Mirmohammad Sadeghi, a board member of the fund, said 11 projects in Sistan-Baluchestan province have so far received financing totaling $1.25 billion under the fund’s development policies.
During a visit to project sites in Chabahar, he reviewed progress on a methanol production unit operated by Sina Chemical Industries Development Company and the first phase of development at Shahid Beheshti Port.
The methanol project, located in the Makran petrochemical industrial zone within the Chabahar Free Zone, was financed in 2022 with $275 million through Bank Pasargad. So far, about $183 million of the approved facilities has been drawn down.
The plant is designed to produce 1.65 million tons of methanol annually from natural gas. After three years of construction, the project has reached around 64 percent physical progress and is expected to become operational within 18 months, provided remaining financing and local contributions are secured on schedule.
Mirmohammad Sadeghi said the project would support downstream industries in Makran, boost value added and create sustainable employment in the Chabahar Free Zone.
He also referred to the first phase of expansion at Shahid Beheshti Port, financed since 2015 with $259 million through the Export Development Bank of Iran. More than $129 million of the funds has been utilized to procure and install port equipment, including specialized cranes and dredging vessels.
Additional components include construction of a 25-megawatt small-scale power plant and a desalination unit with a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters per day. The facilities are expected to supply electricity and water to the port and contribute to meeting Chabahar’s urban needs.
Two of the ongoing projects have surpassed 80 percent physical progress and are expected to be fully operational by the end of next summer, a move officials say will strengthen Iran’s trade and transit capacity.
Among completed projects in the province are a 160-megawatt combined-cycle power plant, a fiber optic network, iron and steel production facilities and a 95-bed hospital in Zahedan. In addition, more than two quadrillion rials in local currency resources have been allocated through agent banks to support working capital and other production projects in the province.
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