24 companies take specifications for 1915 Çanakkale Bridge bid, almost half foreign: Minister

ANKARA

DHA photo

A total of 24 companies have taken specifications for Turkey’s 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, planned to be completed and opened in 1923, Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan has said.

Four of the companies are from Japan, three are from China, two are from South Korea and one is from Italy, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 18. 

In an official meeting with Japanese Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii, Arslan thanked the Japanese people “for sincere support to Turkey” after the failed July 2016 coup attempt and terror attacks. 

He noted that Turkish and Japanese companies had built a number of successful projects together, including the second bridge over the Bosphorus, the Marmaray tunnel, and the Osman Gazi Bridge. 

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge will be built between Lapseki and Gelibolu in Turkey’s northwestern Çanakkale province and is set to become one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, with a main span of 2,023 meters. 

“Japanese companies’ interest in the project makes us very happy. To bid in the planned tenders, a total of 24 companies, four of which are from Japan, three are from China, two are from South Korea and one is from Italy, have already taken specifications,” Arslan said. 

“We will accept the offers on Jan. 26. We have also started the consultancy tender process for the project. We will take the offers here on March 27,” he added. 

For his part, Ishii said Japan respected how the Turkish people had united and showed solidarity against the coup attempt. He described the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge as a monumental project that would symbolize Turkish-Japanese friendship if companies from the two countries cooperated on it.