'Procurement of critical equipment for Chabahar development finalised'

Indian Ports Global Ltd (IPGL) has finalised the procurement of critical equipments such as rail-mounted gantry crane for the development of Iran's strategic Chabahar Port, an official statement said on Monday.

"IPGL has finalised procurement of critical equipments such as rail mounted gantry crane, and is close to finalising orders relating to rubber tyre mobile crane, MT container handlers, truck and tractor trailers containers and related equipments," it said.

This came as Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari was on a visit to Iran, representing India at the inauguration of Hassan Rouhani as President for a second term.

Gadkari, who also met Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi, emphasised during the meeting emphasised on the need to develop rail connectivity from Chabahar to Zahedan, and said that the MoU with India in this regard may be extended.

"The issue of ratification of the trilateral transit agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan was also discussed. While India and Afghanistan have the agreement, Iran is yet to do the same," said the statement.

Besides Gadkari, the Indian delegation comprised of Alok Srivastava, Special Secretary, Shipping, Saurabh Kumar, Indian Ambassador to Iran, and Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary, in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Gadkari had earlier said the government was hopeful of completing the work on the first phase of the project in 2018.

--IANS

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