Chinese Government pledges $2 billion loan for construction of Tehran North Highway Parts 2 and 3 (Linked to Project ID#67090)

On September 22, 2015, China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth 2 billion USD with Tehran-North Freeway Company for the construction of Part 2 and 3 of the Tehran-North Freeway. Part 2 is about 23km (including a 6.5-km tunnel and a 16.5-km highway) and costs around USD 500 million; Part 3 is about 45-km long with an estimated cost of USD 1.5 billion (Guancha.cn). The project was implemented by a consortium of China Railway Tunnel Group, China Shanghai (Group) Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technological Cooperation, and Federal Aisa Shanghai Import & Export Co., Ltd. The project preliminarily planned to construct the 121-km long freeway in 4 sections. On July 7, 2005, ICBC signed an agreement with Tejarat Bank of Iran to provide USD 180 million export buyer's credit for constructing Part 1, the first 32-km section of Tehran-North Highway (See Project ID #67090). In March 2014, section 4 of the freeway, which is 20-km long and connects Marzanabad to Chalous, was inaugurated. It was later closed to the public due to technical problems. On January 26, 2018, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Mostazafan Foundation and China Railway Academy Company (CRAC), a subsidiary of China Railway Group Limited, signed a MoU regarding the financing and construction management of Section 3 of Tehran-North Freeway. By 2020, Parts 2 and 3 have yet to be completed. As of April 27, 2020, Part 1 of the project was still not completed and it was estimated that construction would then be finished sometime before the winter. According to the head of Mostazafan Foundation, 50% of Part 2 will be complete by 2021-22 and requires 20 trillion rials (Financial Tribune).

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 德黑兰北部高速公路 or 德黑兰-肖玛尔高速路二、三阶段。

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

20