Italian contractor Astaldi has announced that the financing contract has been signed for the first, $2.8bn phase of the concession to build and operate Turkey’s Gebze-Izmir motorway.
The overall $6.5bn project involves building, under the BOT (Build, Operate, Transfer) formula, a new motorway section and its links, for a total of 421km, to be completed in seven years.
The project will include a bridge over Izmit Bay, which will be one of the world’s longest suspension bridges.
The new motorway will link Gebze, near Istanbul and the city of Izmir on the Aegean coast, halving the car travel time, which currently exceeds eight hours.
The first, $2.8bn phase includes the new Izmir Bridge
The first section involves the bridge and 53 kilometres of road, to be complete in 3.5 years.
The EPC contract is valued at $2.3bn and the works will be done by Astaldi, the concessionaire, in joint venture with five other Turkish companies.
The concession has a duration of 22 years, with toll revenues expected to total $24bn.
Astaldi’s projects in Turkey since the 1980s include the Anatolian Motorway, the Istanbul underground, and the new international terminal at Milas-Bodrum Airport. The group is also completing the Golden Horn bridge (Haliç bridge).
