The Turkish Parliament has approved an amendment to the Highways Code that will enable the establishment of a legal corporation to pave the way for the public offering of toll roads and bridges.

This could mean that the public offering could be completed in the first semester of 2014 if all the bureaucratic processes are passed as planned, authorities say.

The draft was passed into law on February 6, as part of an omnibus bill that also included a highly controversial Internet bill.

The code included changes necessary for the establishment of a company to which the General Directorate of Highways could transfer toll roads and bridges' operational rights.

Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Åžim?ek announced in March 2013 that the Supreme Privatization Board (ÖYK) had cancelled a $5.7 billion tender for the privatization of highways and bridges. This tender would have given the winning consortium of Koc Holding (40 %), Malaysia's UEM Gorup Berhad (40 %) and Gözde Giri?im (20%) the operating rights for the 2,000 kilometer Edirne-Istanbul-Ankara highway as well as for Istanbul's two bridges for the next 25 years.

The reason behind this decision was that the government had higher expectations for the privatization.