SHANA -- Plans are under way to ensure access of 3,000 more Iranian villages to the natural gas by the end of the current calendar year to March 20 2019, an official said.

The CEO of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Hassan Montazer Torbati, said linking the villages to the national gas distribution network would be a “revolution in gas distribution” in the country.

Speaking on Saturday, during a ceremony to launch a gas pipeline from the northeastern county of Torbat Heidariyeh to the eastern county of Kashmar, both in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, the official said burning gas as fuel would dramatically reduce the associated expenses of families in the areas where it is being distributed.

He said such a large number of villages to be linked to the network all at once was unprecedented in NIGC’s history which was made possible on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.