TEHRAN - The restoration of Heydarabad Castle in the city of Khash, southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province has been completed at the cost of one billion rials (about $24,000 at the official rate of 42,000 rials).

Today, in an interview with Fars in Zahedan, Mansoureh Mollahelah, deputy director of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department of the province, said measures taken in the restoration project included debris removal, bricklaying of the yard, traditional covering, thatch coating, whitewashing the interior spaces of the ruler sitting part of the castle, Fars reported on Wednesday.

The monument has been registered in the national heritage list in May 2001.

Earlier this month, it was announced that a total of eight new cultural elements, which are practiced in Sistan-Baluchestan, have been added to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The skills of making several local dishes such as Chicken Abgoosht, Kalehjoosh, and Kashk-e Baluchi were amongst entrees to the prestigious list.  

The expertise of making waterskins, and the skill of making Sistan’s traditional broom were other elements being registered, the report added. 

The collective province -- Sistan in the north and Baluchestan in the south -- accounts for one of the driest regions of Iran with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west, and an obvious rise in humidity in the coastal regions. In ancient times, the region was a crossword of the Indus Valley and the Babylonian civilizations.

The province possesses special significance because of being located in a strategic and transit location, especially Chabahar which is the only ocean port in Iran and the best and easiest access route of the middle Asian countries to free waters.

The vast province is home to several distinctive archaeological sites and natural attractions, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, namely Shahr-e-Soukhteh (Burnt City) and Lut desert.