Incentive scheme set to benefit Eastern Turkey

ISTANBUL

Total applications for the government’s new incentive scheme have promised 25-30 billion liras in investments.

Organized industrial zones (OSB) in eastern and southeastern Turkey have rushed to take advantage of a new economic incentive scheme from the government, filing 1,066 of the 1,749 applications for funding in the project.

“The greatest number of applications came from the southeast, which registered 766 applications.
Another 300 applications were filed from eastern Turkey. All these figures indicate to us that the region is in the throes of a large investment momentum. We can see that many investors have started entering the regions,” Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün said.

Under the plan, the government is providing financial investment, as well as discounted plots of land, to companies across the country although companies in the east and southeast were again leading the way in demands for plots of land, the minister said.

Largest commitment from Gaziantep

The largest investment commitment was for a total of $3.5 billion in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

“We have begun allocating space. For example, we received 150 applications from Diyarbakir. The estimated investment amount is 424 million Turkish Liras. There isn’t any more space available in the OSB, so we are still working to look for space,” he said.

According to the data provided by Ergün, the combined investment for all the applications submitted so far is between 25 billion and 30 billion liras. Employment figures are estimated to rise by roughly 70,000 additional jobs. Some 500 applications were filed in Gaziantep’s fifth OSB with an expected investment amount of $3.5 billion. Three applications were filed in the region of Şırnak in eastern Turkey. Some 1.6 billion liras of total investment were guaranteed despite the fact that the applications were not made by large companies. There were another five applications made for the Şırnak-Cizre OSB with a promise of 111 million liras.

Before the new incentive scheme, there had been 41 applications for the Batman OSB in the southeast, while another 24 applications were filed after the incentive scheme was enacted in June.