According to Tehran SAMA, Kadir Topbas told his Tehran counterpart that there is 150 km of subway in Istanbul which is to increase to 650 km. He said every kilometer of subway in Istanbul costs 50-60 million dollars and they have 38 months to build 22 kilometers more subway. “We have currently spent one billion dollars on its construction. Istanbul’s urban budget, excluding companies, is 5 billion dollars per year.”
Ghalibaf hailed his Istanbul counterpart noting that 37 km of subway has been built in Tehran since they met last and the last station will become operational in 17 days. He added that 83 percent of the subway’s budget is provided by Tehran Municipality which spends an annual total of about 1.4 billion dollars on subway. He added that building each kilometer of subway costs 50-55 million dollars in Tehran. Tehran Municipality has built 27 km of subway per year and has commissioned about 17 km of subway lines.
Ghalibaf also pointed to Sadr highway project noting that the project should be finished in 500 days and he inspects it on a weekly basis. He added that there are counter boards installed to tell citizens how many days remain before the project is finished.