Fight Over Tehran Metro Continues

Tehran Mayor Qalibaf: Municipalities legally tasked with operating subways

TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Mehr News Agency) -- Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf says that according to the law, only municipalities are allowed to build and operate subway systems and everyone should abide by the law.

Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf (file photo)

"According to article 3 of the law the Majlis ratified in (Iranian calendar year) 1385 (March 2006-March 2007), municipalities are tasked with building, operating, and managing metro systems," he said in Tehran on Sunday at the inauguration ceremony for a number of libraries.

He made the remarks in response to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement on November 11 that the administration plans to take over control of the Tehran Urban and Suburban Metro Company from the Tehran Municipality.

The Tehran Municipality was tasked with operating the Tehran Metro in 2001, but Ahmadinejad, who was the mayor of Tehran from 2003 to 2005, said his administration has decided to take control of the Tehran Metro.

The current problem of the Tehran subway system does not have anything to do with its management, but rather, the underground system suffers from a lack of funding, Qalibaf stated.

People expect proper service from the metro system and do not care who is in charge of the system or how it is managed, he added.

He also said the parliament is devising a plan to allow the subways systems of Tehran and other major cities to have access to $2 billion from the Foreign Reserve Exchange Fund.

The ratification of this plan can be a serious step for the development of metro systems, Qalibaf noted.

He went on to say that he does not intend to politicize the issue and plans to present a report to inform the public about the Tehran Municipality's activities in regard to the subway system and its investments in the Tehran Metro.
 

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