$17 billion investment sought

Neşe Karanfil ANKARA - Radikal

The Industry Ministry plans to attract solar energy investments to Central Anatolia. Hürriyet photo

The Ministry of Industry plans to establish two industrial zones, one in the Filyos district of Zonguldak, a province along Turkey’s western Black Sea coast, and another in the Karapınar district of Konya, a central Anatolian province. It is estimated that the two zones will attract a total investment of nearly 17 billion euros.

The integrated industrial zone to be established in Zonguldak’s Filyos district will focus primarily on iron and steel, cement, shipyards and power stations. In Konya’s Karapınar a “specialized energy zone” will be built. The Karapınar Specialized Energy Industrial Zone is slated to be a pioneering step for solar power investments. 

Industry Minister Nihat Ergün has said that the estimated potential investment at each of the Kilyos and Karapınar industrial zones is 8.5 billion euros.

Noting that 21 mega-watts of solar power investment on 1.95 million square meters of land in Spain cost 300 million euros, Ergün said: “[The area of] the Karapınar Industrial Zone is nearly 59 million square meters, so the total investment cost for facilities of 590 mega-watts of annual installed capacity [should] amount to 8.5 billion euros.” 

The Filyos Industrial Zone is planned to be established on four million square meters of land, Ergün said.
“It takes $1.6 million of fixed investment for one mega-watt of installed capacity. The cost of establishing an iron and steel plant on 500,000 square meters of land amounts to nearly $1.5 billion. If all investments in this zone are in the iron and steel industries, the total investment cost is calculated at $10.5 billion of fixed investment on a total of 3.5 million square meters of land.”

The minister said additional incentives may be put in place on the back of the recently announced new incentive system. Nationalization and infrastructure costs will be covered by the budget of the Ministry of Industry. The ministry has pledged to complete all the legal procedures, including obtaining the authorization and environmental impact statements, in just three months.