Consortium wins huge highway tender

The consortium, consisting of sector giants Nurol, Özaltın, Makyol, Astaldı, Yüksel and Göçay, bid the shortest construction and operation term for the İzmit Bay Crossing and Bursa-Balıkesir-İzmir Highway Project. The consortium offered to build and then operate the projects for 22 years and four months, and then transfer it to the state.

Its only rival was another consortium consisting of Kolin, Mapa, Limak and Cengiz İnsaat. Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, İhsan Akbıyık, deputy director-general of the Highway Authority, noted that the tender process had been opened April 9.

Rival bidder complains

The bid was a controversial one, with Ayhan Yılmaz, a lawyer for the rival consortium, claiming the Nurol group had failed to prepare a letter of proposal.

Akbıyık said there was no legal problem with the process and that the losing consortium had offered a period of 34 years and nine months, while the winning one said it would transfer the whole operation to the public in 22 years and four months.

Speaking to reporters, Yılmaz reiterated his claim that the winning consortium had failed to produce a letter of proposal in accordance with the law.

If the government approves Friday’s result, the winning consortium will start building a highway from Gebze, near Istanbul, to the Aegean city of İzmir, and begin constructing a bridge over İzmit Bay. The highway will be 421 kilometers long.

The project is expected to cut highway travel times between Istanbul to İzmir from six and a half hours to three and a half hours, resulting in an annual savings of 870 million Turkish Liras.