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CONSTRUCTION EUROPE
SEPTEMBER 2013
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Construction equipment manufacturers from around the world are
targeting Turkey as a growth market, but competition from home-grown
companies is fierce.
Helen Wright
investigates
T
he construction market in Turkey is
forecast to grow more rapidly than
any market within Europe in the
coming years, exceeding an average of 5%
per year to 2025, according to data from
Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford
Economics.
The country has been an associate member
of the EU since 1963 and started negotiations
to join the union in 2005, but its accession
is still far from finalised. In the meantime, it
has been shielded from the sovereign debt
crises and ensuing austerity measures that
have hit European Member States so hard in
recent years.
Not only is its economy currently supported
by better long-term economic fundamentals
compared to its neighbours, but Turkey
also benefits from strong trade links to fast-
growing international markets, including
Russia and East Asia.
With its urban population expected to
increase by a third by 2025, one aspect
fuelling Turkey’s construction market is the
need to replace and upgrade ageing housing.
And the wider infrastructure market is also
being boosted by significant investments,
thanks in part to the government’s Vision
2023 programme – a number of goals for
2023, the year that Turkey reaches the 100
th
anniversary of its establishment as a republic.
The programme gives priority to
infrastructure projects which will support
economic productivity in the medium and
long term, including highways, railways,
airports, dams and irrigation.
RAIL CORRIDORS
High-speed rail lines are being introduced
around the country, for instance.These include
the upgrading of the rail corridor between the
capital, Ankara, and the country’s largest city,
Istanbul, to a high speed line, funded by €1.5
billion from the European Investment Bank.
This 490km rail line forms part of Pan-
European Corridor IV, and will also
A rising star
interconnect with the Marmaray Bosphorus
rail tunnel – a separate project linking the
Asian and European sides of Istanbul by rail
for the first time, and scheduled to open in
October.
At the same time, a €1.9 billion project to
construct a third bridge across the Bosphorus
is also underway, led by Italian contractor
Astaldi in a joint venture with Turkey’s IC Ictas.
And Astaldi is also helping to construct the
İzmit Bay crossing, a 3.3km suspension bridge
at the eastern end of the Sea of Narmara,
close to Izmir, as part of the 421km Gebze-
Izmir highway. For this €4.9 billion project, it
is working in joint venture with Turkey’s Nurol,
Özaltın, Makyol, Yüksel and Gocay.
These rail, road and bridge projects are all
scheduled for completion in the next decade,
Turkish manufacturer Hidromek
has bought 405ha of land near its
current manufacturing facilities in
Ankara for future expansion
The Bosphorus strait runs through Istanbul,
separating the continents of Europe and Asia.
A new rail tunnel is under the river is nearing
completion, while a new bridge is scheduled
for completion in the next decade
TURKEY
