TEHRAN – A total of four tourism-related projects are scheduled to be inaugurated in Iran’s central Qom province on the occasion of the Government Week (August 24-30), the provincial tourism chief has said.

A guest house, a tourist complex, and two vast traditional restaurants will come on stream across the province, Alireza Arjmandi announced on Wednesday.

A budget of 430 billion rials ($10.2 million at the official exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar) has been channeled into the projects, the official added.

The projects are expected to generate 70 job opportunities directly upon their completion, he noted.

The country’s second-holiest city after Mashhad, Qom is home to both the magnificent shrine of Hazrat-e Masumeh (SA) and the major religious madrasas (schools).

Apart from sightseers and pilgrims who visit Qom to pay homage at the holy shrine, the city is also a top destination for Shiite scholars and students who come from across the world to learn Islamic studies at its madrasas and browse through eminent religious bookshops.

The city’s antiquity goes back to the Sassanid era (224 CE–651) and several historical mosques, mansions, and natural sceneries have been scattered across the city as well as towns and villages nearby.

ABU/AFM