Turkey awaits 5,550 km of build-operate-transfer roads

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

A Turkish-Italian joint venture has won a tender to build a third suspension bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus.

Turkey’s highways authority currently has 24 new build-operate-transfer model projects on the agenda, in its bid to cut energy expenses and gain time.

The Northern Marmara highway project, a large plan that includes a third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus, will save nearly $1.8 billion in energy and work power, according to the authority.

A joint venture of local IC İçtaş İnşaat and Italian Astaldi has already won the tender for the project.
The Gebze-Orhangazi-İzmir highway project, which is planned to connect three industrial regions, will reduce the traffic between Gebze, near Istanbul, and the Aegean city of İzmir by 30 percent, the highways authority said.

Once completed, the new highway promises to link Istanbul to Bursa, the heart of the country’s automotive industry, in only one hour by car. It currently takes nearly 3 hours.

Officials at the highway authority said the new highway would also contribute to tourism on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.

Otoyol Yatırım ve İşletme, a joint venture of Nurol, Özaltın, Makyol, Astaldi and Yüksel-Göçay, won the tender for the 421 kilometer road project, promising to build and run the toll road for 22 years four months, starting from September 2010. The project includes a large suspension bridge linking the two sides of the Gulf of İzmit.

Another ambitious project is to link the neighboring provinces of İzmir and Manisa with a tunnel, which will save more than 50 million liras during its operation period, according to officials. A joint venture of Koçoğlu and Makimsan Asfalt was authorized to build and run the project for 12 years and 11 months, starting from August 2011.

A highway between the capital city of Ankara and the Black Sea province of Samsun will also ease access to Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asian countries, helping to link them to the Mediterranean, the highway authority says.

In total, the build-operate-transfer model highway projects constitute 5,550 kilometers of road construction.