The National (United Arab Emirates) - The market for active construction projects in Türkiye currently stands at around USD 350 billion and offers ample opportunity for contractors and consultants from the GCC market to get involved, according to a new survey by Meed Projects.
It says a booming economy and a fast-growing population has led to Türkiye accelerating a nationwide infrastructure programme in recent years, with USD 135 billion of major projects (those worth more than USD 100 million) in the transport sector alone.
The biggest and most noteworthy of these, of course, is the plan to build the world’s biggest airport by area. Istanbul New Airport will cost USD 11 billion for its initial phase, and will sit on a 76.5 square kilometre site some 35 km away from the existing Atatürk airport. Once complete, it will have six runways, four terminal buildings and a capacity to serve 150 million passengers a year – with the potential to extend to 200 million.
There is also a USD 35 billion high-speed railway between Edirne and Kars and in the power sector there are plans for a USD 15 billion nuclear power complex – the country’s third in total.
Add in some of the huge property projects that have been taking place within Turkish cities, such as the USD 2.8 billion Istanbul International Finance Center, and it is easy to see why so many are excited by Türkiye’s prospects.
By the end of 2013, Türkiye’s annual GDP had grown at about 4.6 per cent over the previous decade, although this slipped back to about 3.4 per cent last year, to approximately USD 800 billion. About 5.9 per cent of this is directly attributable to construction activity.
Türkiye has also seen plenty of investment from the Arabian Gulf as well, particularly through the likes of Emaar Properties, which is building more than 1,000 homes, a hotel and a mall at its Emaar Square project in Istanbul. Kuwait’s Mazaya also announced its Ritim Istanbul project containing six towers and a shopping mall in February.