Turkey ‘needs $700 billion for 2023 goals’

ISTANBUL

Turkey needs $700 billion worth of infrastructure investments by 2023, Deputy PM Ali Babacan has said. HÜRRİYET photo

Turkey needs $700 billion worth of infrastructure investments by 2023 with the government planning to use around $200 billion through its public-private partnership (PPP) model, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said.

The PPP model, which has become the main investment tool of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) government for over the past 10 years, has proven to be an effective way to fund giant projects.
Speaking at the “Improvement of Infrastructure Financing Tools for Investors” conference in Istanbul yesterday, Babacan also acknowledged the PPP as being an important tool in decreasing the state’s borrowing needs.

However, the deputy prime minister also said new ways should be implemented for shifting the focus of investments to private companies.

“New methods should definitely be looked for and capital markets needs to be involved more actively,” the minister said.

“The efficiency in a country rises [in line with] the private sector’s involvement in the economy as the [private] sector contributes [greatly] to growth,” he added.

Since the enactment of a law that facilitated the build-operate-transfer model in 1994, 167 project contracts have been signed with various models with a total contract value of around $88 billion, particularly in the transportation and energy sectors as of 2013, according to Development Ministry data.