Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, on Sunday reviewed the progress in the development of the Chabahar Port during his meeting with the top Iranian leadership and officials in Tehran. Gadkari is on a two-day visit to Iran as a special envoy of India deputed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the second tenure of Hassan Rouhani as the President of Iran. Gadkari handed over a letter of felicitation to Rouhani and extended an invitation to visit India.
Gadkari also called on Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhoundi and held talks on bilateral cooperation. "In the meetings, both sides reviewed and positively assessed the progress in implementation of the decisions taken during Prime Minister's visit to Iran last year, including the progress in the development of Chabahar Port. Both sides reiterated their commitment to complete and operationalise the Port at the earliest that would contribute to bilateral and regional trade and economic development and also provide alternate access to landlocked Afghanistan to regional and global markets," MEA said in a statement.
Gadkari's visit assumes significance as India has accelerated work on the Chabahar port and finalised some tenders for installation of key equipment at the port. Hopeful of rolling out infrastructure projects in Iran and Afghanistan, Gadkari has said that once Chabahar Port in Iran becomes operational, there will be no looking back as it will be a gateway to golden opportunities. "Civil construction work has started there. We have finalised tenders worth Rs 380 crore for equipment out of Rs 600 crore and once the port becomes operational it will become a growth engine," the Minister had said.
Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan province in the energy-rich Persian Gulf nation's southern coast, lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India's western coast, bypassing Pakistan. "Talks are on for building railways and roads through Chabahar till Afghanistan and then we have access to Russia. Once Chabahar is operationalised, which we are hopeful to be in 12 to 18 months time, it will prove to be a gateway to golden opportunities to boost trade and business," Gadkari told media persons. "We are hopeful of ratification of Trilateral Transit and Transport Agreement by Iran and once approvals are given, the work will start," Gadkari said. The trilateral pact was inked during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tehran in May 2016.
The pact envisages establishment of Transit and Transport Corridor between India, Iran and Afghanistan using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs for sea transportation in Iran besides multi-modal transport of goods and passengers across the three nations. The Cabinet and the President had ratified the pact in November and December, 2016 respectively.
A Government official said Afghanistan has also ratified it but Iran is yet to complete the internal processes of the ratification. Gadkari said operationalisation of the Port will not accelerate the infrastructure projects but will be a "win-win situation" for the nations as it would give tremendous boost to trade and offer vast opportunities to investors. "Chabahar will not only boost ties between Iran and India but we will be closer to Afghanistan and then Russia....We can export goods till Russia. This will be a direct route," he said. India has already built the Zaranj-Delaram Road in Afghanistan where the cargo reaching Zehedan can connect to.