Iran (IMNA) – "This is the last year of implementing the engineering and hardware- related projects of reviving the endorheic salt lake. Relevant measures that have been started since 2013, will be fully operated in January and February," Issa Kalantari added.
Pointing to the inauguration of the Zab Project, he noted, "34 out of 36 kilometers stretch of Zab tunnel has been completed, and the rest two kilometers will be finalized in the next two months."
"So far, 11,000 billion toman has been spent on Lake Urmia restoration project of which less than 500 billion toman allocated to the planning and monitoring phases," he continued.
"Considering the high evaporation rate of Lake Urmia, if no restoration and stabilization measures were not carried out, salt dust would have occurred in Tabriz. Many Tabrizi people had high blood pressure in 2015 due to the condition. Therefore, the Prolongation of such process was so important and had to be conducted under any circumstances," he said.
"We have decided to construct a second causeway over the lake; the roadway had to be built three years ago, but it was postponed to this year due to the lack of budget. By constructing the 500 meters overpass on the west side of the lake, water circulation will be reached to 98 percent. The mentioned bridge which will be finished in six or seven months, will compensate the reduction of water circulation caused by Kalantari Bridge," he added.
"The allocated budget of Lake Urmia restoration project will be ended by the end of this calendar year; about 100 billion toman will be required for the next year, and nearly 30 billion toman for the following years, while policies on the restoration of Lake Urmia should not change," he said.
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