Turkey offers $350bn projects market opportunity

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 23 June 2015: The value of major active projects in Turkey is worth almost $350bn representing an excellent new opportunity for GCC contractors and consultants impacted by falling oil prices, according to new research by MEED Projects, the region’s leading online projects tracking service.

Thanks to its booming economy and fast-growing population, Turkey has really accelerated its nationwide infrastructure programme in recent years. For active projects worth more than $100m, the largest individual sector is transport, with $135bn worth of projects either planned or under construction, mainly in the form of new roads, railways and airports. 

It is closely followed by the power sector, which has $125bn worth of projects planned or under construction, including nuclear, solar and wind power plants, and then construction, with $40bn worth of major real estate projects in Turkey’s three main cities of Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir.

Major projects include the $35bn Edirne and Kars high-speed railway, Turkey’s $15bn third nuclear power complex, the $11bn third international airport in Istanbul, and the $10bn Istanbul canal project providing an alternative link between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

What’s equally attractive for international companies is the fact that most major projects are carried out on a public-private-partnership (PPP) basis, with contractors investing in projects on a long-term concession basis.

“The combination of large and liberalized projects market along with transparent tendering processes makes Turkey an immensely attractive proposition for contractors, consultants and suppliers alike who are concerned about a potential slowdown in project activity in the Middle East caused by lower government spending on the back of falling oil revenues,” says Ed James, Director of Content & Analysis at MEED Projects. “For companies looking to diversify and enter new markets, Turkey is an ideal opportunity especially given its proximity and cultural affinity with the region.”

GCC developers are a common sight in Turkey lured by the stable and growing economy. Dubai’s Emaar is building the $280m Emaar Square mixed-use project in Istanbul; Saudi Arabia’s ACWAPower is the main developer of the 950MW Kirikkale independent power project (IPP); while Qatar’s Nebras is looking at developing Turkey’s lignite reserves to develop up to 4,500MW of new power capacity.

MEED Projects carried out three months of extensive on-the-ground research on more than 1,000 individual projects in Turkey to create the database, the first of its kind covering all sectors in the country. The addition of countries brings to 21 the number of countries covered by MEED Projects, and to 14,500 the number of active projects tracked by the service.