Turkish contractors undertake $27 bln worth of projects abroad

ANKARA

Turkish contractors undertook 389 projects worth $27.4 billion in foreign countries in 2023, data from the Trade Ministry have shown.

Turkish construction companies in 2022 generated $19.6 billion from 504 projects abroad.

Russia was the largest market for Turkish companies. Last year, they assumed projects worth $4.6 billion in this country, which accounted for 16.8 percent of all projects they undertook abroad in 2023.

Turkish contracting firms have been winning more and more projects in Europe in recent years, said Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, speaking at an event organized by the Turkish Contractors’ Association (TMB).

“Apart from Romania, which ranked second in the list of most projects undertaken, our contractors have also undertaken important projects in Macedonia and Spain,” he said, adding that the renovation of Barcelona football club’s stadium is a landmark project for Turkish companies.

Turkish and Saudi companies held meetings last year, and those efforts are yielding results, the minister recalled.

According to the data from the Trade Ministry, Turkish contractors undertook $2.75 billion worth of projects in Saudi Arabia in 2023.

For years, between 40 to 45 Turkish companies made it to the ENR’s Top 250 International Contractors List, Bolat also said.

“Turkish contractors win around 5 percent of the projects in the world,” he added.

Turkish technical consultancy services have also become a “global brand,” according to the minister.

“The local technical consultancy industry generated $233.4 million in revenues from global projects in 2023,” Bolat said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are once again among the countries where technical consultancy and architecture projects have been granted, he said. “We have started to reap the fruits of the warm political relations we established with these countries.”

Turkish contractors generated most of their revenues abroad from highways/tunnels/bridge projects that amounted to $5.3 billion last year, with power plant projects ranking second at $4.3 billion, according to the numbers from the Trade Ministry.  

Housing and airport projects in foreign countries generated $3 billion and $2.7 billion in revenues, respectively. The share of railway projects in total revenue was 8.2 percent or $2.24 billion.

Between 1972 and 2023, Turkish contractors undertook 12,701 projects in 135 countries worth $501.9 billion.

A total of 40 Turkish companies entered ENR’s Top 250 International Contractors List last year.

Turkish contractors’ international revenues amounted to $18.9 billion, while their share in the global construction market, which stood at $428.5 billion, was 4.4 percent.