Chabahar

Chabahar is a sea port located at Iran on the Gulf of Oman. It is Iran’s only sea port. Chabahar Port consists of two separate ports named Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari. Each of the two ports has 5 berths.

Key Points

• India and Iran first agreed to work for the development of Shahid Beheshti in the year 2003 but were not able to do it due to sanctions against Iran by various countries.
• In 2016, India signed a bilateral agreement to refurbish and renovate one berth of the Shahid Beheshti Port. Also, India would construct a 600-meter-long container handling facility.
• In 2018, India took over the operations of the berth through India Ports Global Limited.
• During the COVID 19 pandemic, India used Chabahar port to send relief supplies to Afghanistan.

What is Chabahar-Zahedan railway project? Why is India out of it?

• In May 2016, India signed a trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan for the construction of Transit and Transport Corridor using Chabahar port. Construction of 628 km Chabahar-Zahedan railway line was also the part of the agreement.
• Indian Railways Construction Ltd. (IRCON) also signed a MoU with the Iranian Ministry in this regard.
• Since, then India was part of the talks for the project but Iran started the project itself due to delay from Indian side.
• Indian officials visited Iran several times for the project but never started it due to the US sanctions against Iran. This is the reason why India is out of it.
• Another reason behind India’s way out from the project can be Comprehensive Plan for Cooperation between Iran and China. It is a USD 400 billion strategic partnership deal between both the countries and also includes involvement of China in Chanahar.

Months after the starting the railway project alone in July, Iran now hopes to get support from India for equipment. Urban Development Minister of Iran Mohammad Eslami hasinaugurated the track-laying of the Phase 2 of the project on November 4 and wishes to get support for equipment, locomotives, etc. from New Delhi.

Delays in sanctions have also affected other projects; India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is now out of the Farzad B project. It is a project to develop Iran’s gas field Farzad B. Both the countries were having discussions on the project since 2009.