UK Investor Halts Iran Solar Project Over US Sanctions
◢ British group Quercus, an investor in renewable energy, said Tuesday it will halt work on a major solar plant in Iran after the country was hit by US economic sanctions. "Following the US sanctions on Iran, we have decided to cease all activities in the country, including our 600 MW (megawatt) project," Quercus chief executive Diego Biasi said Tuesday in comments later confirmed by a company spokesman.
British group Quercus, an investor in renewable energy, said Tuesday it will halt work on a major solar plant in Iran after the country was hit by US economic sanctions.
"Following the US sanctions on Iran, we have decided to cease all activities in the country, including our 600 MW (megawatt) project," Quercus chief executive Diego Biasi said Tuesday in comments later confirmed by a company spokesman.
The US last week reimposed sanctions on Iran after President Donald Trump's withdrawal from a nuclear accord in May.
Trump insisted that the 2015 deal with Iran—designed to prevent the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon and that was signed also by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—did not go far enough.
Several major foreign companies have either already exited Iran or are planning to cease activities in the country as a result of the US sanctions impacting their business activities.
Photo Credit: Wikicommons
Iran Signs Deal with China to Connect Key Port to Rail Network
◢ China will build a train line connecting the Iranian port of Bushehr to the rest of the country's railway network under a $700 million deal signed on Wednesday. The agreement was inked in Tehran in the presence of Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi and officials from China Machinery Industry Construction Group.
China will build a train line connecting the Iranian port of Bushehr to the rest of the country's railway network under a $700 million deal signed on Wednesday.
The agreement was inked in Tehran in the presence of Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi and officials from China Machinery Industry Construction Group.
It will see the group build a 400-kilometre (250-mile) railway between the Gulf port and the southern city of Shiraz, IRNA state news agency cited officials as saying without specifying when construction would get underway. This would complete the "North-South Railway Corridor" in line with Iran's goal of becoming a transport hub for goods between the Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Russia and Central Asia.
Products arriving at Bushehr, Iran's second biggest port after Bandar Abbas, also on the Gulf, currently have to be transported by road.
The Bushehr-Shiraz rail project is one of seven the government is working on totaling 2,300 kilometers in tracks, according to IRNA.
China is Iran's biggest economic and trading partner. In September, the Asian giant granted lines of credit worth $10 billion for five banks financing infrastructure projects.
Photo Credit: IRNA
