TEHRAN - Iran plans to inaugurate 150 kilometers of new freeways across the country by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (march 20, 2026), the head of the country’s transport infrastructure development company said on Tuesday.

Houshang Bazvand, head of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company, said the government is also set to begin construction on seven new expressway projects totaling 359 kilometers in partnership with the private sector.

The projects involve an investment of 1.1 quadrillion rials (approximately $2.2 billion), with over half provided by private firms.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Pardis-Haraz freeway, Bazvand said this is the third project launched this year, alongside segments of the Urmia-Tabriz and Arak-Shazand-Khorramabad routes. So far, a total of 210 trillion rials (roughly $420 million) has been invested in the three projects.

The Pardis-Haraz freeway is intended to relieve traffic congestion in the eastern corridor of Tehran Province.

While the project is scheduled to take four years, officials are aiming to complete it within three.

Bazvand added that with support from the Roads and Urban Development Ministry, 23.5 trillion rials ($47 million) in cash and an additional 200 trillion rials ($400 million) in bonds have already been secured, noting that this year’s funding allocation is stronger than in previous years.

He also pointed to recent attacks attributed to Israel during a 12-day conflict, saying construction sites in multiple provinces were targeted, including four attacks on the Kermanshah-Islamabad corridor and others on the Urmia-Tabriz and Miandoab-Tabriz rail line. Despite the strikes, no construction site was shut down, he said.

EF/MA