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Radiofarda – The city of Tehran’s debt is much higher than previously stated, according to the deputy mayor, who blames the previous mayor for the city’s financial woes.
The Tehran municipality owes 520 trillion rials (roughly $12 billion in today’s exchange rate), Deputy Mayor Hojjat Mirzaei told the pro-reformist daily Sharq, saying former Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf’s “highly expensive management style” and “favoritism in assigning projects” dug the city into its debt hole.
The staggering figure dwarfs an earlier estimate by current mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi, which placed the city’s debt burden at 300 trillion rials (roughly $7 billion). Just six months into his term as mayor, Najafi has repeatedly accused his predecessor of corruption and misappropriation of funds.
Mirzaei said the payments owed to city contractors alone reach 90 trillion rials (roughly $2 billion), and Tehran City Councilor Mahmoud Mirlouhi said interest payments on the total debt are $1.7 billion annually.
Qalibaf, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander and former chief of the Islamic Republic’s police force, served as the mayor of Tehran from September 4, 2005 to August 22, 2017.
