Turkey wealth fund to finance logistics projects
ANKARA, August 25, 2016
Turkey’s new national wealth fund will finance projects including airports, seaports, roads and railroads across the country, a senior government official was quoted as saying in a Gulf Times report.
The fund, which is seen having a value of $200 billion, will implement projects that don’t have a build-operate-finance model, Transport, Maritime and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan said, according to the report.
Some sub-funds will provide finance for those infrastructure projects, he added.
“Transport projects impact the lives of millions of people and hundreds of billions of dollars of local and international trade,” Arslan said. “That’s why it’s normal that transport-infrastructure projects benefit from a large part of the wealth fund.”
“All the road and bridge projects around Istanbul and around the Sea of Marmara will be completed by the end of 2019 and will cost around $20 billion, serving around 30 million people,” Arslan explained.
“The government is also planning to auction the rights next year to build a tunnel for a road and railway under the Bosporus to carry about 6.5 million passengers a day”, Arslan said. “The project will cost about $5 billion and will be integrated into existing metro lines and roads.”