"70 to 80 Percent" of Major Projects in Iran are in the Hands of Governmental Entities

Ahmad Khorram, the Minister of Roads in the government of Mohammad Khatami, the former President of Iran, states that 70 to 80 percent of the country's major projects are under the control of "governmental entities." In an interview with ILNA on Sunday, January 28, he added, "Certainly, the private sector cannot compete with state-owned companies; it is clear that it cannot compete in a competitive environment with military forces." He emphasized that the transfer of projects to military institutions, the "militarization" of airports, ports, and railways, and what he described as the "domination" of these institutions over ministry affairs would be "problematic." He added, "The presence of a military entity in one of the ports caused this port to be sanctioned, and for years we could not utilize the opportunities and revenues of this port." Mr. Khorram did not mention the name of this port in his remarks. The United States sanctioned the Iranian company "Tidewater Middle East," affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in 2011, warning American institutions against transferring cargo to the port of Bandar Abbas, where 90 percent of Iran's maritime transport operations occur. After the company was placed on the U.S. sanctions list, "Maersk Line," the world's largest food shipping company, announced in a statement that it had halted its activities in the ports of Abbas, Khomeini, and Assaluyeh in Iran. The Iranian company "Tidewater Middle East" was responsible for loading and unloading operations at several Iranian ports. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hossein Dajmar, the CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, reported on July 31 that the company "Tidewater" had ceased operations in the Shahid Rajaei port in Bandar Abbas to lift sanctions. On the same day, he announced the arrival of the first foreign ship carrying goods to this port after the Geneva agreement. Reports indicate that many infrastructure and construction projects in Iran across various sectors, including energy, telecommunications, transportation, and dam construction, have been awarded to the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters in recent years with government approval and without formal bidding procedures. The Tehran Municipality also signed a 20 trillion toman agreement with the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters on June 3, under which the municipality is set to allocate 10 trillion tomans in cash and 10 trillion tomans in non-cash payments for the execution of construction projects to this headquarters over the next four years. The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters was established in 1989 by the order of Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and according to previous reports from the IRGC to the Budget Commission of the Parliament, it has 812 registered companies in Iran and abroad. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, stated on Sunday, January 14, that "the economy in the country does not progress with monopoly" and emphasized, "If an issue is monopolized by a specific group, corruption will arise, even if it is Salman and Abu Dharr." On Tuesday, December 17, he described monopoly and the concentration of "manifestations of power" in one institution as a "factor" of corruption, stating that the concentration of information, guns, and media in one institution leads to corruption. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the IRGC, quoted Mr. Rouhani on Wednesday, December 25, stating that his comments about the concentration of "manifestations of power" in one institution did not refer to this military institution.