Italian Astaldi secures 5 billion loan for major Turkey highway bridge project

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

Italian construction giant Astaldi has announced that it has secured a $5 billion loan for the Gebze-Orhangazi-İzmir highway in Turkey, which includes the world’s fourth longest suspension bridge over the İzmit Bay.

According to a written statement from the construction firm issued on June 8, the financing has been provided by a consortium of banks including Akbank, Deutsche Bank AG, Finansbank, Garanti Bank, Halkbank, İş Bank, Vakıfbank, Yapı Kredi and Ziraat Bank.

“This new funding will be used to complete the final portion of the 301 km route linking Bursa to İzmir (Phase 2B) and to refinance the sections under construction for the Gebze-Orhangazi-Bursa link (Phase 1 and Phase 2A). Therefore, with this operation, the entire work’s financing process is now complete,” the company stated. 

The massive loan therefore completes the financing of the 421 km road project, which seeks to significantly reduce the travel time between Turkey’s northwestern province of Gebze and the Aegean coastal city of İzmir to 3.5 hours.

The project is being supervised by Otoyol Yatırım and İşletme AŞ, a joint venture featuring Astaldi along with Turkish construction firms Nurol, Makyol, Özaltın and Göçay.