Financial Tribune - Iran�s nominal cargo transit capacity stands at 50 million tons per year, which is fivefold higher than the actual volume of transit, according to Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami.

�Some 80% of the 10 million tons of freight are transited annually via roads and the remaining 20% by railroad,� Eslami was quoted as saying by the news portal of the ministry.

The minister noted that since 2013 when Hassan Rouhani first took office as Iran's president, some 4,000 kilometers of highways and 220 kilometers of freeways have been constructed across the country.

�We will have built around 2,000 kilometers of asphalt roads connecting our rural areas by the end of the current Iranian year [March 19, 2020]. Plans are to construct 3,000 kilometers of rural asphalt roads next year. Some 1,100 kilometers of railroads will be laid by the end of the second term of President Rouhani [August 2021],� the minister was quoted as saying by IRNA.

�This year we succeeded in gaining permanent membership in the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which will boost transits through the country in the near future," he added.