Privatization board hopeful of finalizing tenders this year
ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency
Locals enjoy the scenery by the sea in Pasaport, a neighborhood in the Aegean city of İzmir, where a marina will be privatized. Hürriyet photo
Many privatizations will be finalized this year, accelerating the privatization process which has seen multiple delays or cancellations, in a bid to meet the revenue target from the 2012 privatizations, according to Ahmet Aksu, vice president of Turkey’s Privatization Administration (ÖİB).Privatizations of gas and electricity grids, bridges and highways are planned to be completed in the first half of the year, said Aksu in a statement on acquisitions made to Anatolia news agency. The revenue target from the privatizations in 2012 is set at 10 billion Turkish Liras in the budget act, he said.
Privatizations in the maritime sector including Galatport, İzmir Cruise Port, İzmir Pasaport, Kalamış and Taşucu marinas will be initiated this year, he said. The privatization process will accelerate in maritime sector this year, he added.
The final deal will be made at the end of April or beginning of May regarding the privatization of the Başkent Doğalgaz, the capital’s natural-gas grid, and as for the privatization of bridges and highways, this will be in the beginning of June.
The deadline to place bids for the privatization of the 80 percent stake of Başkent was postponed from Jan. 27 to April 16, the third postponement after the ÖİB first attempted to start a tender process Oct. 31, 2011.
The bridges and highways are bundled in one package and will be privatized through granting the operating rights for 25 years. The privatization process started on Aug. 25, 2011, and the bidding deadline was postponed from Feb. 16 to May 17. About 10 firms including consortiums from Europe, the United States and Far Eastern countries and local investors are interested in the privatization of the bridges and highways, he said.
Privatizations of the 20 percent stake of Aksu, Kayseri ve Civarı Elektrik, an electric grid in Central Anatolia, and 10.3 percent of Petkim, Turkey’s largest refinery, will be finalized in the beginning of April at the latest, he said. The bidding deadline for the electric grid is March 30 and for Petkim, March 20.
