The chief financial officer of Sarakhs Special Economic Zone stated that to simplify and speed up the initiation of the east-to-west corridor, the construction of an international logistics center has been added to their agenda, with which a container terminal with a capacity of 10 million tons per year, an international barter trade center, and an industrial park would be launched.
On the sidelines of the visit of reporters and members of the media to the “Future’s Heritage” exhibition – an exhibition introducing Sarakhs Special Economic Zone’s history, achievements, capacity, and outlook, which is currently being held at the Astan Quds Razavi exhibition and conference center – Ehsan Jalayer said regarding the capacities, outlooks, and formation of Sarakhs SEZ that the idea for the Sarakhs Special Economic Zone began in 1993, and was launched in April 1996 at the same time as the inauguration of the Mashhad-Sarakhs-Tajan railway, and in the presence of high ranking government positions and representatives of over 70 different countries.
Variety in railroad and road logistics services
As he pointed out some of the advantages of this zone, Jalayer stated that its variety of services offered in the field of railroad and road logistics, its connection to the Astan Quds Razavi organization and dedicated employees, a capacity to offer 24/7 logistics and production services, road and railroad connectivity to point zero border lines, as well as proximity to CIS countries, are all mentionable advantages of the zone.
Sarakhs Special Economic Zone’s CFO said that one of the important achievements of the zone is the utilization of the first phase of its sulfur park while adding that the park was built on a 9-acre block of land, with an investment of 910 billion rials, and a foreign currency investment exceeding 60 million euros.
Developing capacities in the field of railroad transportation
He also added that signing an agreement with MFA – a large transportation company in Turkey – was another important step taken by Sarakhs SEZ, and stated that this company was one of 4 in possession of a transit permit allowing passage through Iran.
Jalayer continued by stating that MFA has performed various joint collaborations from the year 2021 onward in the field of transit goods transportation from central Asia and Russia to Turkey and Europe, supplying the necessary wagons and creating the competitive advantage of transport via Sarakhs in the east to west and north to south corridor.
He also mentioned that in the year 2021 another agreement was signed with the Iranian Trade Center in Russia to benefit from Sarakhs SEZ’s capacities in transportation and the transit of goods, as well as supplying Russia’s needs for the province’s goods, and developing transportation relations based on a priority of transit with this zone.
Constructing a liquid gas transshipment site
In regards to Sarakhs SEZ’s liquid gas transshipment site, Jalayer added that this site is under construction with an investment of 1000 billion rials and with an annual transit of 600 thousand tons, which, once performance begins, will result in a direct income of 60 million dollars and an indirect income of 175 thousand dollars, as well as an annual income of 1.5 million dollars for the Sarakhs SEZ.
He continued by saying that another feature of the specialized transshipment site is the capability of creating an oil derivatives transit value chain from Turkmenistan to Mirjaveh and Bandar Abbas
Creating a Sarakhs border logistics village
On the subject of the logistics village in the zone, Sarakhs SEZ’s chief financial officer mentioned that the construction of the village had been initiated to attract foreign investment in the field of transportation from the countries China, Russia, Afghanistan, Emirates, and Turkmenistan.
Sarakhs Zone’s international Logistics center was built upon 35 acres of land with the capacity of unloading, docking, and loading 500 containers daily, and 660 thousand TEU per year.
Jalayer stated that the development of a container terminal with an annual capacity of 10 million tons, the international barter trade center, industrial parks, and the speeding up and simplifying of the initialization of an east-to-west corridor, were some of the features of the international logistics center of Sarakhs Special Economic Zone.
