President Rouhani’s admin. backs deal with Hyundai

The administration of President Hassan Rouhani has come out in support of a landmark agreement with South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries for construction of 10 mega-size containers and tankers following criticisms at home that the agreement should have been awarded to local builders.

According to local media reports, Es’haq Jahangiri, the country’s first vice president, said on Monday that the contract with Hyundai Heavy was nothing new and was the renewal of an earlier contract that had originally been signed in 2008. 

Jahangiri said Iran had paid the South Korean company as much as 25 percent of the value of the contract but further payments had been suspended due to the sanctions imposed on Iran.

“Further payments were not made due to the sanctions and they [Hyundai Heavy] filed a complaint against Iran,” he told a meeting of directors of Khatam-ul-Anbia Construction Headquarters (KACH) – the construction arm of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). 

“After the removal of the sanctions, some negotiations were carried out [with Hyundai Heavy] and they accepted to implement the agreement and reduced the original fee by 25 percent.” 

On Friday, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) signed a contract worth above $600 million with Hyundai Heavy over building 10 Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) as well as medium-range tankers.   

SS