Birdal: Tender of the third airport attracts great attention

Director General of Turkey's State Airports Authority (DHMI) Orhan Birdal said that a great number of companies including foreign ones took the specifications of the tender lodged for the construction of the third airport in Istanbul. Stating that the tender will take place on May 3, 2013 at 10:00 am, Birdal said the third airport would be the biggest airport on earth in terms of passenger capacity, once it starts to operate in full capacity. Underlining that they will not publicly announce the companies which have taken the specification of the tender by virtue of strategy, Birdal added, "There are much more interest into the tender of construction of the new airport than we have expected. There are a great number of local and foreign companies interested. There are many companies which have taken the specification; yet the number of the companies which evaluates the specification is even higher. We hope that this great interest will be reflected on the tender as well." Birdal also said that the construction of airport would be assumed jointly by the public and the private sector and the tender would be for a 25-year lease in a four-stage project. Commenting that the new airport will positively affect the region on which it will be constructed, Birdal said, "The region where the new airport is to be constructed is one of the most disadvantaged regions of Istanbul in terms of environmental factor since it has been exploited very adversely for years. We will refresh this region with the new airport." Stating they are planning to finish the first phase of the project in 42 months upon securing the tender and site delivery, Birdal concluded that 120 thousand people would be annually employed on average and it would be the biggest airport with an annual passenger capacity of 150 million.