Iranian officials say a Russian contractor is taking over at a major power plant south of the country which is expected to be built through finances provided by Moscow.

A local official in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan said on Wednesday that construction works for the Sirik Power Plant had effectively started after banks opened a letter of credit for transfer of funds for the project.

Hossein Salimi, who heads the local energy department at Hormozgan, said temporary shelters and offices had been erected at the site of the project in Sirik for operations to start by the Russian contractor.

Salimi said the manager of the Russian company in charge of the project would be in Tehran within the next days to order the start of the construction work.

Russia is expected to invest up to € 1.2 billion in the construction of Sirik, a 1,200-megawatts power plant that would significantly boost Iran’s electricity generation capacity in areas near the Persian Gulf.

Source: Press TV