Turkish highway/bridge project

In a surprise move the Turkish authorities have now cancelled the tender process for the construction of the third Bosphorus Bridge and the Kuzey Marmara highway. The process was cancelled as there were no bidders. In all 33 firms said that they were interested in the tender and 18 of then applied to purchase the documents for the tender. Nine of these companies were Turkish, four were Japanese, two were Russian, one was Spanish, one was Italian and one was Austrian. The firms agreed that the cost of the project was too high and due to the economic crisis in Europe they could not finance the amount. The highway would link Tekidag with Adapazari though a 414km route and the project also included the bridge, with an estimated cost of US$5 billion for all the work needed. The contractors involved included Japan-based 3055 Mitsubishi, IHI, Obayashi and 4081 Itochu, Turkish firms 4143 Gulsan, 4144 Cengiz, 4148 Mapa, 4149 Yüksel, 3338 Nurol, 4150 Kolin, 4151 Varyap, 4152 Park Holding and 2709 STFA, Austrian company 945 Strabag, Italian firm 1324 Astaldi, Russian groups 4154 NPO Mostovik and 4157 Moskovskiy Metrostroy, and Spanish company 1340 FCC Construcción. It is not clear at this stage what the Turkish Government will do, whether the plans for the highway and bridge will be reduced in scale and relaunched or whether the project will be put on hold until the economic conditions are more favourable.