Gov't Expands Tehran Urban Revitalization Program

EghtesadOnline: Top officials of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and Tehran Municipality convened on Tuesday and approved measures for expansion of a revitalization program to areas surrounding the capital.

News ID: ۷۸۴۰۸۹

29 September 2018

Roads Minister Abbas Akhoundi headed a session that also included other high-level officials of the ministry, Tehran City Council Chairman Mohsen Hashemi and provincial officials.

At the end of the session, the officials approved five measures to accelerate the urban revitalization plan and improve the quality of life of citizens, according to Financial Tribune.

One of them decreed that the ministry's Department of Architecture and Urban Development, the state-run Urban Revitalization Company and all municipalities of the Tehran Province will join forces to devise various urban revitalization schemes for cities located on the outskirts of the capital, MRUD's news website reported.

As Tehran is battling a myriad of challenges from a very high level of distressed urban areas to poorly constructed neighborhoods, high levels of air pollution and road traffic, the administration of President Hassan Rouhani has put a lot of time and resources on its urban revitalization program.

The program is part of a larger national initiative called Hope that was officially launched by the president on February 8 in the presence of roads minister and the Central Bank of Iran officials.

On Tuesday, officials also decreed that the government will have a 70% share in providing services and improving the quality of public life in distressed neighborhoods, obligated Tehran Municipality to set aside a portion of its construction permits for distressed urban areas to implement urban revitalization schemes and called for a meeting with the head of Plan and Budget Organization, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, to decide the scheme's future source of finance.

They also formed an alliance between select entities inside the MRUD and Tehran Municipality to help implement a public transport system on the outskirts of Tehran with the aim of improving the quality of life of thousands of people commuting to and from Tehran daily.

On the other hand, the officials decided that a specialized workgroup tasked with preventing expansion of distressed urban areas will identify lands inside and on the outskirts of Tehran that have no owners. Some of these lands are located in areas classified by the ministry and the municipality as distressed areas.

"All initiatives concerning Tehran must be based on reducing concentration on the city so in this vein, we must coordinate all urban revitalization initiatives together," the roads minister said.

Officials attending the meeting also discussed the necessity of improving transportation between Tehran and nearby cities, upgrading the quality of life in nearby cities, focusing on unofficial residential areas and exerting supervision over the implementation of urban development projects across all cities in Tehran province.