Yildirim praises developments in transportation, informatics and maritime

Transportation, Maritime and Communication Minister Binali Yildirim said yesterday that the year 2011 was successful for Turkey in terms of maritime and informatics. Stating that the number of shipyards in Turkey was increased from 36 to 71 and that Turkey ranks the sixth in receiving new ship construction orders and the tenth in terms of deadweight (DWT) worldwide, Yildirim said that Turkey has also become the third in mega yacht production in the world. Yildirim added that the maritime sector has been provided with a support totaling 2.4 billion Turkish liras as from September 2011 thanks to the Special Consumption Discount (OTV). Speaking on the informatics sector, Yildirim said, "The information sector income totaling $11.5 billion in 2003 surpassed $31 billion as from the end of 2011. We expect this amount to reach $34 billion in 2012." Yildirim added that Turkey's investments in transportation and access infrastructure amounted to 112 billion Turkish liras in the last nine years. "There were only six interconnected cities in Turkey prior to 2003. We have interconnected 74 cities, as well as a great many districts with an investment totaling approximately 43 billion Turkish liras. Accordingly, our country has won, because the annual time saving, fuel saving and environmental impacts caused by these roads currently amount to 9.4 billion Turkish liras. There were divided roads of 6,101 km in 2003 and now this figure has reached 21,227 km," Yildirim said. Yildirim added that investments would continue and a total of 1,162 km of divided roads were planned to be constructed in 2012.