The Turkish Privatization Administration (OIB) has plans to re-launch the tender process for the privatization of highways and bridges.

A consortium of Koc Holding (40 %), Malaysia's UEM Gorup Berhad (40 %) and Gözde Giri?im (20%) won a first tender for the project with the highest bid of US$5.72 billion in December 2012.

Later, in February 2013, the tender was cancelled due to the fact that the Turkish Government had higher expectations for the privatization.

According to sources, the OIB has sent letters of invitation to potential advisers. It has two main options, the first would be re-launching the cancelled tender process and the second would be to divide the privatization of highways and bridges into separate packages. The decision could be announced by the first quarter of 2015.

The concession contract is expected to have a period of 25 years.

Several funds from Middle East Gulf are believed to participate in the future tender process.

The previous process included the operating rights for the 2,000 kilometer Edirne-Istanbul-Ankara highway as well as Istanbul's two bridges for the 25 years. Specifically it included:

• Edirne-Istanbul-Ankara highway;
• Pozanti-Tarsus-Mersin highway;
• Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep highway;
• Gaziantep-Sanliurfa highway;
• Toprakkale-Iskenderun highway;
• Izmir-Cesme highway;
• Izmir-Aydin highway;
• Izmir and Ankara connecting roads;
• the Bosphorus Bridge; and
• the Fatih Sultan Mehmet (bridge and connecting road).

We have recently reported about the following PPP projects in Turkey:

• Mersin PPP Integrated Health Campus
• Kayseri integrated health campus PPP project
• Dalaman airport concession in southwestern Turkey
• Ankara Etlik Health Campus
• Adana PPP Integrated Health Campus
• Milas-Bodrum airport terminals concession
• Derince Port concession
• Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport concession