Turkey clinches landmark Bosporus deal

Turkey has won $1.4 billion in finance for a road tunnel between Europe and Asia under the Bosporus. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said late Dec. 11 it had signed a $150 million loan agreement with Turkey for the project, completing a financing package which also includes the European Investment Bank (EIB), Korea's Eximbank and K-Sure and Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Mitsui (SMBC) and Mizuho. "Turkey and Russia have seen the largest PPP (private-public partnership) projects in Europe this year," Thomas Maier, ERBD's managing director for infrastructure, said in a statement. "As the first major private-public partnership in the road sector with predominantly foreign financing, it will open the way for the financing of Turkey's impressive pipeline of infrastructure projects." The 5.4-kilometer "Eurasia Tunnel" is due to be completed in 2017 and is meant to relieve chronic traffic congestion in Istanbul.