Firms building Istanbul’s third bridge demand postponement of bankruptcy

Courts had ruled to take an injunction decision after ESA İnşaat, İSDEM Yapı and Saryapı İnşaat were unable to pay their debts. The courts also assigned trustees to the firms, according to court documents. 

The demand to postpone the bankruptcy declaration was subsequently prompted by a distortion in the financial structures of the firms and an increase in dollar rates, which led to significant cost increases.

ESA İnşaat has been carrying out excavation works on the bridge’s Asian pier, but the firm’s financial structure has been distorted due to the increase in the dollar exchange rate. 

İSDEM Yapı İnşaat, which is carrying out the highway works leading to the bridge, has demanded a suspension of its bankruptcy declaration after it ran into debts. Saryapı İnşaat, which is carrying out a 10-kilometer-long road construction linked to the bridge has also made the same request.

The construction of the third Bosphorus Bridge, named after the 16th century Ottoman Sultan “Yavuz” Selim, began in 2013. Its highways are expected to cost around $3 billion. Both towers of the bridge have been completed so far.