Urban and Rural
Development
ARTICLE 133-
A- Government is authorized to transfer the
proprietorship of the water and sewer installations installed prior or after
the establishment of the water and sewer companies, as discerned by the
Ministry of Energy, to these companies.
B- All the sovereignty mandates pertaining to Ministry
of Energy currently performed by the water and sewer companies are to be
separated and transferred to Ministry of Energy.
C- The water surcharges, connection charges, and the
cost of waste-water disposal are to be determined on the basis of the
recommendations of the water and sewer company in the framework of the criteria
and the ceiling approved by the Economic Council as well as the city Islamic
council. The new towns without the
city council are subject to the rates adopted by the nearest city.
ARTICLE 134- Issuance of any permit for exploitation
of the surface or underground water and using the city’s water supply network
for large production, industrial, animal husbandry and service units and other
uses that generate large quantity of waste-water, and also the continued use of
the previously issued permits will be subject to provision of sewage collection
installation and hygienic collection of the sewage and hygienic treatment of
the waste-water. Until the proper installations are built, the contaminating
water users will be fined according to the type and intensity of the
contamination caused by their operation, and on the basis of a by-law and the
rate approved by government. The
proceeds will be settled with the Treasury, equivalent of which will be granted
to the Department of the Environment through a special credit line to be
provided in the annual budget law in order to finance programs in the areas of
qualitative conservation of water resources and hygienic treatment and disposal
of the waste-water. The executive by-law of this Article shall be prepared by
Ministry of Energy in cooperation with the Department of the Environment and other
concerned agencies and presented to the Cabinet for approval.
ARTICLE 135- Authorization is
granted to all ministries and government agencies possessing cultural, art,
sport, health, medical care, rehabilitation, educational, administrative and
military centers that are subject to change of use according to the adopted
city plans, to sell off the said centers through tender and settle the proceeds
with the Treasury, and use equivalent of these funds according to the annual
budget laws, to replace, complete, and renovate similar centers; and also for repair and maintenance
purposes.
ARTICLE 136- Taking into account the capabilities of
the municipalities, government is authorized to delegate to municipalities
those functions of the executive agencies pertaining to the municipal
administration as deemed necessary and recommended jointly by Ministry of the
Interior and the State Administrative and Employment Affairs Organization,
together with the required financial resources.
ARTICLE 137-
A- In order to accelerate development of rural areas
in general, and to improve the means of subsistence of the rural inhabitants in
particular, government is required to undertake the following measures during
the Plan period:
1- To determine the role and jurisdiction
of the mandates and relationships between the agencies and entities connected
with rural development, aiming at reorganization of these functions and
elimination of the parallel and similar activities.
2- To delegate part of duties of the
public executive agencies to the Islamic councils and local bodies and
non-public institutions and enterprises.
3- To determine criteria for the
infrastructure services in the rural environment, structuring, zoning and
provision of services, ordering
and equipping the country’s rural areas on the basis of the adopted development
plans.
4- To support the non-governmental
institutions that mobilize the micro-credit (funds) such as the rural
development funds in order to provide the rural inhabitants with the facilities
needed for socio-economic and cultural activities.
5- To re-arrange the rural spaces
and settlement pattern aimed at coordinated and harmonized agricultural,
industrial and service activities through proper distribution of population and
optimal dispersion of services in the rural environment, and to support their
execution.
6- To promote private and popular
investments in the rural environment through provision of the proper facilities
particularly for the employment-generating investments and payment of a portion
of the interest of the granted financial facilities in the undeveloped regions.
7- To organize and support settlement of
the tribes as they may volunteer to do so.
B- In order to give identity to the form and the
physical structure of the country’s cities, towns and villages, conform the
specifications of all residential and non-residential buildings of the country
with the particular attributes of the Iranian/Islamic (indigenous) architecture
and city building, observe the principles and criteria pertaining to the design
and execution of the outward appearance of buildings, as well as urban and rural design; and to prevent
destruction of the valuable buildings and facades in cities, the Ministry of Housing
and Urban Planning is required to take progressive and gradual measures by the
end of the Third Plan period, at the latest, in cooperation with the relevant
agencies and authorities and upon performing studies and research on the
subject, to prepare and determine the principles, criteria and regulations
required to govern design of the physical appearance of all the country’s
buildings and structures and convey the said criteria to all municipalities and
other pertinent entities as well as the country’s engineering associations.
C- Government is required to provide for the special
funds in the annual budget bills in such a way that upon termination of the
Third Plan all the villages with a population over twenty households entertain
proper road, school, hygienic potable water, electricity and telephone.
D- In order to create employment opportunity in the
rural areas especially in underdeveloped regions, a special fund is established
under the name of Gharzol- Hassaneh (interest-free) Fund for Development of
Rural Employment, through investment by the government and the public. The Articles of Association of the said
Fund will be proposed jointly by the Ministry of Construction Jihad, Ministry
of Agriculture, the Presidential Office of the Deprived Regions, and the Plan
and Budget Organization, and it shall reach the Cabinet for approval within two
months with effect from the enactment of this Law.
The by-law of this Article shall be proposed by the
State Administrative and Employment Affairs Organization, the Plan and Budget
Organization, and Ministry of Construction Jihad, Ministry of Housing and Urban
Planning, and the Presidential Office of the Deprived Regions; and shall be
approved by the Cabinet.