Turkey to launch tenders for four ports: Transport Minister

ANKARA - Anatolia Agency

Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım said Oct 16 that the government would soon be launching tenders for four new marinas. DHA photo

Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım said Oct. 16 that the government was planning to launch tenders for four marinas soon, which would raise the total berth capacity for yachts to 19,000 in Turkey. 

Yıldırım stated that there were currently 43 public and private marinas in the country, but this number would increase to 47 with the new ones. “Four marinas will be built in Balıkesir, Tekirdağ, İzmir and Istanbul that will have a 1,525 berth capacity in total. So, the marina berth capacity will rise to 19,000,” he said. 

The new marinas will be constructed with the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, he said, adding that eight marinas in Muğla, Aydın, İzmir, Yalova, Mersin and Antalya had already come into operation with this method and five marinas were still under construction in Antalya, Mersin and Muğla. 

BOT model

The build-operate-transfer model, which enables projects to be built without using public resources, has so far contributed 377 million Turkish Liras to the economy in various guises.

The tender files for the new marinas will be able to be obtained from Oct. 28.

With the new marinas, the government aims to raise the berth capacity in Turkey to 20,000 by 2015 and 30,000 by 2023, Yıldırım said. 

Recently, two big tenders for ports in Istanbul were held. Doğuş Holding placed the highest offer for the privatization of the Istanbul Salıpazarı Port Area in May, commonly known as Galataport, with a $702 million bid, winning the right to operate the port area for 30 years. 

The Sembol-Ekopark İnşaat-Fine Otelcilik joint venture – all companies Rixos Hotels chain has shares in – submitted the highest offer $1.35 billion, plus taxes, in the action for the privatization of the shipyards in Istanbul’s Golden Horn (Haliç), following the BOT model.