Tenders have been released on the new Tehran-Chalus dual-carriageway project, which is likely to cost several hundred million dollars. The proposed 120-kilometre road will cross the Alborz mountain range and is expected to comprise a large number of tunnels and flyover bridges.

The existing Tehran-Chalus highway, the main route from the capital to the Caspian provinces, is the most dangerous in Iran. It goes west to Karaj before heading north. The new road, to be carried out by Tehran-Shomal Freeway Company (TSFC), will follow a more direct route north, via Taloon and Marzanabad.

The project is to be carried out in four phases, of which phase 2 has now come to tender on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis. The phase starts 32 kilometres from Tehran and will take the road a further 22 kilometres. About four kilometres of flyovers and 25 kilometres of tunnel will be built under the contract.

Foreign and local companies have been asked to bid as joint ventures, with a majority local holding. The project is to be debt-financed, with repayments starting after nine years with an eight-and-a-half-year repayment period. The project is expected to take five years. The consultant is the local Lariz Consultant Engineering Company.