Turkish firm 'reportedly' wins contract to build Moscow airport terminal

MOSCOW

Turkey’s Renaissance Construction has won a tender to build a terminal and tunnel at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Mikhail Vasilenko, Sheremetyevo’s chief executive, said on March 18, as quoted by Reuters. 

However, the company said in a written statement on March 18, the tender process was still ongoing and that no formal decision had yet been made. 

The choice of a Turkish firm was unusual, as Moscow imposed sanctions on Ankara after Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015.

Renaissance Construction and Limak, the other Turkish firm which tendered, had submitted their bids from their Russian-registered subsidiaries, state-controlled Sheremetyevo said previously.

Vasilenko did not disclose the price or any other details, but Sheremetyevo said in January that the construction of a passenger terminal and a tunnel by 2018 would cost $630 million.

Building a cargo terminal, for which a separate tender is expected, would cost an additional $70 million, it said.

Turkish companies were banished from Russia’s construction, tourism and hotel business from Jan. 1. 

According to the updated list, Turkish companies will not be able to construct buildings or work in architecture and design in Russia. The list later added an exception for 53 Turkish companies working in Russia.