TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani held a video conference on Thursday to inaugurate 26 water and power projects in four Iranian provinces, official news agency IRNA reported.
One of the main projects now operational and hailed as "historical" by the president is the Kani Sib dam in Piranshahr, West Azarbaijan province, which is expected to pipe water to Urmia Lake.
Rouhani stressed the "crucial" importance of Urmia Lake as 14 to 15 million Iranians living in the area, and voiced hope that the revival of the waters could be celebrated soon.
The Kani Sib dam's reservoir has a volume of 220 million cubic meters, and it can transfer 550 million cubic meters of water annually from the site to the lake, according to details provided in the event by Iran's Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian.
In addition to the Kani Sib dam, several other projects were inaugurated in West Azarbaijan, including an irrigation and drainage network downstream of the Karamabad-e Poldasht dam and eight rural electricity projects, IRNA reported.
Apart from West Azarbaijan provinces, nine other infrastructure projects were inaugurated in central Isfahan province, 10 projects in northern Mazandaran province, and three in north-east Ardabil province. Enditem