The head of the country's new energies [institution] has said that the construction project of the geothermal power plant in Meshkinshahr would be completed by the end of next year [21 March 2009].

According to a report by the correspondent of Fars News from Ardabil, in his visit to the plant's construction site today, Yusef Armudli said that a budget of over 46bn rials [more than 47m dollars] had been allocated for the project.

He said that the drilling experts of the [National Iranian] Oil Company would begin to drill 18 deep wells in the district in the near future.

Armudli added that the wells would be dug in a district that is 2,800 meters above the sea level. The length of the wells would be 30,000 meters and 6bn tumans [over 6m dollars] would be spent for the drilling, according to him.

The head of the country's new energies [institution] said that the 55 MW power plant, would not only produce electricity but also its grounds would be used for tourism, research and scientific purposes.

Source: Fars News Agency website, Tehran, in Persian 1700 gmt 18 Dec 07