The massive national plan for the revival of Urmia Lake has nearly 100% progress, Director for Planning in Urmia Lake Revival Masoud Tajrishi said.
Speaking in a national projects inauguration ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani, Tajrishi said that the Urmia Lake restoration project has absorbed over 15 billion tomans of investment in the last seven years.
Earlier today, Head of Iran’s Department of Environment (DOE) Issa Kalantari noted that Urmia Lake restoration projects have had 98% advancement and the lake would reach its ecological level in early 2022.
He named several environmental projects implemented during the two terms of Rouhani administration, including forestation, tree planting, watershed management, expanding protected lands and plant species, specification of water rights for over 70 wetlands, locating haze producing areas, and containing parts of them, elevating air pollution-related standards for vehicles, etc.
President Rouhani inaugurated several national projects today, the bulk of which were pertaining to environment protection.
Before President Hassan Rouhani took the office, no officials had put the issue on agenda to prevent the degradation of the environment and revitalize Urmia Lake in an important meeting, such as the meeting of cabinet ministers.
Dubbed ‘Turquoise Solitaire of Azarbaijan’ by Iranians, the lake is located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km2.
