FIRST PHASE OF CHABAHAR PORT OPENS
India has committed $500 million to the project
TEHRAN: Iran President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday opened the first phase of the Chabahar port that opens up a new strategic transit route between Iran, India and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
The newly built extension to the Shahid Beheshti Port in the southeastern city on the Gulf of Oman was built with an investment of $1 billion, including $235 million from India. New Delhi has committed a total of $500 mn to the port project.
India’s minister of state for shipping Pon Radhakrishnan and dignitaries from Qatar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries attended the inauguration.
The expansion more than triples the port’s cargo capacity to 8.5 mn tonnes a year from 2.5 mn tonnes earlier, and poses a challenge for a port being built by neighbouring Pakistan with Chinese investment.
The extension is expected to make Chabahar, Iran’s closest sea link to the Indian Ocean, a rival to Gwadar Port, some 80 km away across the border. Rouhani, however, downplayed the rivalry in his inauguration speech and said the port will bring “more engagement and unity” among regional countries.
“We should go after positive competition,” he said. “We welcome other ports in the region, we welcome Gwadar’s development.”
Ahead of the inauguration of the strategically-important port, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday made a previously unannounced stopover at Tehran and held a luncheon meeting with her Iranian counterpart Javed Zarif.
For India, the investment in Chabahar is crucial since the port will bolster a trade route for landlocked Central Asian countries that would bypass Pakistan.
Last month, New Delhi shipped its first cargo of wheat to Afghanistan through the Iranian port, part of 130,000 tonnes India plans to export to Afghanistan.