Initial agreement inked for third Istanbul airport

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The contract for the third airport to be built in Istanbul has been signed. AA photo

The consortium of five Turkish companies that won the third airport tender with the highest bid signed the preliminary contract today.

The Cengiz-Kolin-Limak-Mapa-Kalyon Consortium, a joint venture of Turkish companies, won the tender for the third airport in Istanbul on May 3, promising to pay the state 22.1 billion euros (plus taxes) for 25 years starting from 2017.

The contract for the third airport in Istanbul was signed on the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI) in Ankara with the attendance of Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım, State Airports Authority of Turkey (DHMI) Director General Orhan Birdal and representatives of the consortium companies. “The new Istanbul airport project is not only an investment project for us, it’s prestige project for Turkey with all its aspects,” Limak chairman Nihat Özdemir said during the ceremony, speaking on behalf of the other members of the consortium as well.

Özdemir, in one of his previous statements, had said 6.4 billion euros of the 10.2 billion euros the consortium plans to invest for four stages of the project would be spent in the first stage.

Speaking at the ceremony also, Yıldırım said this project was milestone for Turkey. “The project is larger than the national income of 103 United Nations countries.”

The final contract for the airport project will be signed by a company that the consortium will establish after Yıldırım’s approval.

In the first month following the signing of the contract, the company will ask for the land to be transferred. Then the 42-month-long first stage investment period will kick off.