Toll roads earn 800 million liras in 2012

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey generates 800 million liras from vehicles’ passage across bridges and highways in 2012. The toll roads were privatized for 25 years last month.

Turkey earned about 800 million Turkish Liras from 350 million vehicle crossings on toll bridges and highways in 2012, according to figures published yesterday.

General Directorate of Highways (KGM) data shows that last year’s revenue totaled 803,424,806 liras from 359,826,776 vehicle crossings. While the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges earned 214,116,123 liras, the remaining amount, 589,308,683 liras, came from toll roads.

Figures from last December indicate that the 28,678,753 vehicles that crossed the bridges and used tollways generated 62,831,761 liras that month.

Turkey’s highways and bridges were privatized by a tender won by a consortium of Koç Holding, Gözde Girişim and Malaysia’s UEM Group Berhad with a bid of $5.72 billion in December 2012. The consortium will have total rights to and revenues from toll roads, including the Edirne-Istanbul-Ankara highway and the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges that connect the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, for a period of 25 years.