The presence of the Governor of Bushehr, the representative of Dashti and Tangestan, the Friday prayer leader, and a group of provincial managers at the inauguration ceremony of three water supply projects in Dashti County once again raises the question of why projects with limited operational nature turn into costly displays of official presence; while hundreds of the province's infrastructure projects remain unfinished and people are waiting for access to sustainable water, safe roads, rail transport, and adequate healthcare services.
According to the official report, three water and sewage projects in Dashti County were inaugurated with a total budget of 51 billion Tomans. Officials have described these projects as "important and strategic"; however, the published information is so general that it does not allow for an accurate assessment of costs, contracts, and contractor performance. The names of the executing companies, the breakdown of contract amounts, the final status, the cost of purchasing pipes and equipment, and the extent of price adjustments are not disclosed in the official news.
51 Billion Toman Ambiguity; What Exactly Do the Numbers Say?
One of the main projects is the water transfer line from Mohammadabad to Mal-Gol. The image attached to the news and the coordinates stated in it show the direct distance between the two points to be about 4٫37 kilometers. Official reports also state the length of this line to be about four kilometers and the pipe diameter to be 250 millimeters.
These figures clarify an important point: the claim made in some local narratives about the implementation of "17 kilometers of 2٫5 inch pipe at a cost of 51 billion Tomans" does not match the official information. The figure of 51 billion Tomans pertains to the total of three projects, not just the Mohammadabad–Mal-Gol line; also, the 250 millimeter pipe is approximately equivalent to 10 inches, not 2٫5 inches. Calculating "30 million Tomans per meter" is also incorrect even based on the 17 kilometer claim; dividing 51 billion Tomans by 17 thousand meters yields a figure close to three million Tomans.
However, the incorrectness of these calculations does not exempt officials from accountability. On the contrary, the contradiction in narratives is the result of the same incomplete information dissemination that only provides a general figure and a few inauguration images. If the cost of the Mohammadabad–Mal-Gol line, as stated in related reports, was 25 billion Tomans, Bushehr Water and Sewage Company must clarify how this amount was distributed among pipes, drilling, connections, equipment, route acquisition, wages, and contractor profit. Publishing the contract text and final status is the simplest way to end the ambiguities.
A Province with 731 Unfinished Projects and Managers Busy with Inaugurations
This ceremony becomes more sensitive when the Deputy Governor of Bushehr for Development Affairs announces the existence of more than 731 unfinished provincial projects; projects that require at least 17 trillion Tomans for completion. Of these, only 321 projects have progressed more than 50 percent. Previously, even a figure of about 1300 unfinished projects was mentioned regarding the total projects of the province.
One of the symbols of this abandonment is the Shiraz–Bushehr railway. A vital project for connecting the province's ports, petrochemical industries, and population centers to the rail network, which after years has only progressed about 17 percent and requires nearly 100 trillion Tomans for completion. The approval of 1٫2 billion dollars from oil barter has so far failed to rescue this historic project from the vicious cycle of promises, budget shortages, and contractor demands.
In the healthcare sector, the Mother and Child Hospital of Bushehr, whose construction began in 2016, has been caught for years between promises of inauguration and temporary injections of funds. The sewage projects, desalination plants, coastal roads, and transportation infrastructure of Kharg Island are also still dependent on funding allocation and completion of operations.
731 Unfinished Projects and Bushehr's 17 Trillion Toman Need
The issue is not just a pipeline; auditing is the missing link.What happened in Dashti is a clear example of non-transparent management that expects people to accept general figures without the possibility of verification. The widespread presence of managers at a ceremony does not replace the publication of financial documents, and the title "strategic project" cannot invalidate questions about the actual cost.
A province that now speaks of inaugurating or starting operations on 2400 projects with a declared value of 261 trillion Tomans needs a transparent system more than anything: the name of the contractor, the method of awarding, the initial and final amount, the progress rate, and the real impact of each project on people's lives. Otherwise, the increase in inaugurations may only lead to an increase in signs and commemorative photos; while Bushehr's important infrastructure continues to fall victim to resource dispersion, cost inflation, and promotional project-making.
The main question for Arslan Zare, Gholamhossein Zarei, and Bushehr Water and Sewage Company managers is clear: if the contracts were fair and the costs technical and necessary, why are their details not published? Disclosing the statuses is not a threat to the project, but the first condition for a valid defense of public funds.