3rd airport funding OK, says winner of tender

Güneş Kömürcüler ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Özdemir’s (C) Limak is in the consortium which won the 3rd airport tender. AA photo

It appears the consortium that won the tender for Istanbul’s third airport for 22.152 billion euros (plus taxes), Turkey’s biggest project of its kind, will not have a problem finding funds.

“We have no problem with financing the third airport in Istanbul. Our negotiations to guarantee funds started before the tender with many players and are still continuing positively,” Limak Holding Chairman Nihat Özdemir, one of the partners of the consortium that won the tender, told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Regarding the criticisms about a possible breach of competition rules by Limak Holding, as it is involved in both of Istanbul’s two future airports, Özdemir said these concerns were unfounded.

“Limak Holding has about 40 percent of the Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) International Airport Company shares, which holds the operational right of ISG. We will have the 20 percent of the new airport. If we had acquired an already-built airport, we could have breached the Competition Law, but we do not,” he said.