Tehran, October 3 (MRUD NEWS)—By operation of 10 km highway from Badroud to Kashan, the road route of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) in Iran is now completely four-lane, according to Kheirollah Khademi, the managing director of Iran's Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC).

Badroud to Kashan had been previously two-lane. By completion of the project, the safety and capacity of this highway will be increased.

150 billion tomans had been financed for this project and it had been completed within 18 months.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a multi-modal transport project for freight transfer from Indian Ocean to Russia through the Persian Gulf.

The rail sector of the INSTC in Iran has currently two missing links, one is the 162-km Rasht-Astara Railroad and the second is 628 km-long Chabahar-Zahedan Railroad which their completion are vital for completing the rail transit along the route.

The construction of the former project is currently under negotiation with Russia and the latter with 74 percent development will be completed by the next two years. It would complete the eastern railway corridor in Iran. Zahedan-Khash Railroad as the first phase of Chabahar-Zahedan Railroad is now completed and is to be inaugurated soon.

Freight transit and trade along the INSTC is targeted at 10 million tons in 2023.