TEHRAN -- Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf arrived in Robat Karim, southwestern Tehran, Sunday to officiate in a ground-breaking ceremony for phase 2 of an ongoing water supply project.

Accompanied by the head of Tehran Province's Agricultural Jihad Organization and the Managing Director of the Tehran Regional Water Organization, Bitaraf was greeted on arrival by governors and local officials of Robat Karim, Shahriar and Eslamshahr before entering the town.

After he viewed the main canal now under construction passing through the three southwestern towns, the energy minister left for Manjilabad, in Robat Karim, also to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the 28km Tehran-Manjilabad irrigation and drainage canal project.

The canal, which entails a cost of 250 billion rials, conducts ground water from Mohammadiyeh Square of Tehran Province to the southwest of the province and is expected to ease water shortage in Robat Karim, Shahriar and Eslamshahr as well as provide water to irrigate arid farming lands located along its route.