High-ranking officials of MAPNA Group and Tehran Municipality held a meeting to discuss ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, especially with regard to boosting the public transportation of the capital by using electric vehicles.
Heading a delegation, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani visited MAPNA Group’s headquarters in Tehran and sat for talks with the company’s president Abbas Aliabadi.
The mayor earlier visited two major domestic car producers namely Iran Khodro and Saipa to discuss avenues of cooperation for introducing fundamental changes in the public transportation of the city.
Speaking in the meeting with Aliabadi, Zakani pointed to the cooperation with MAPNA Group for developing Metro lines in the metropolis, noting a new opportunity has arisen with the conglomerate for manufacturing 113 subway cars as well as cooperation in the field of ICT.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed between the sides, the grounds for developing Line 11 of Tehran’s subway have been paved, he said.
There is a significant need for subway cars in the country, he said, noting that 2,500 cars are needed in current operating metro lines to reach a headway of four minutes.
The metropolis has some 6,000 buses for public transportation and a section of them are worn out and need replacement, he said. “Our plan is to take steps for converting the buses to CNG fuel-powered and then towards electrification of the public bus fleet.”
Furthermore, the municipality is planning to renovate 50,000 taxis and part of the new replacement will be powered by electricity, he added.
According to plans, some 300,000 electric motorcycles are set to be offered across the capital and these need infrastructure such as charging stations, Zakani said, adding, “We know that MAPNA Group is the most prominent brand in developing such infrastructure.”
For his part, Aliabadi pointed to the need to renovate Tehran’s public transportation system.
He proposed that a joint committee would be established to discuss the details of cooperation so that projects would enter the operational phase as soon as possible.
He stressed the need to move from CNG conversion to electric conversion in the metropolis.
The sides also discussed some issues related to the Metro Line 6 project and held initial talks about a deal for a detailed study on the electrification of transportation in Tehran.
The meeting comes some seven months after Zakani took a tour of MAPNA Group’s subsidiaries as well as Metro Line 6.
