At a time when the global economy is slowing down due to the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war and fears of a global recession, Turkey is leading a revolution of huge domestic projects in several sectors, most notably transportation and logistics.
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Turkey has strengthened its position in the transport and logistics sector, not only at the local level, but has also turned into a global center for travel and transport of goods due to its location at the confluence of the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adel Kara Ismailoglu said that all countries of the world are closely following and monitoring the huge projects implemented by Turkey in the transportation sector for 20 years.
This came on the sidelines of the Turkish minister’s participation in the summit of the International Transport Forum in the German capital Berlin, noting that German projects were a source of inspiration for many countries.
Kara Ismailoglu said that transportation and logistics are among the sectors most affected by the Corona epidemic, and that there are lessons to be learned from this situation.
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The Turkish minister stated that the world “began to move towards digitization after the Corona crisis, the latest trends and new trends in production, reducing the cost of logistics in production, green energy and zero carbon emissions.”
He pointed out that the outbreak of wars and conflicts as the repercussions of the epidemic began to recede, led to the continued impact of the logistics sector worldwide.
He added, “Turkey is aware of this, and therefore has prepared the master plan for transport and logistics within the framework of Transport Vision 2053, which includes plans for transport infrastructure projects worth 198 billion dollars.”
At the beginning of this year, the Airports Council International (ACI) announced that Istanbul Airport was the busiest in Europe last year, with 36,988,563 passengers.
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Passenger traffic increased by 37 percent in 2021, after witnessing a 59 percent decrease in 2020 compared to the previous year due to the outbreak of the Corona virus.
Kara Ismailoglu pointed out that Turkey has taken important steps and implemented huge projects in the railway sector, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars line and the Marmaray Line, which were linked to the Silk Road network that extends from Beijing to London and is one of the most important transport corridors in the world.
He added that Turkey attaches special importance to raising the capacity and efficiency of these lines, and therefore is working to implement new investments within the framework of the Middle Corridor, and seeks to attract 30% of the capacity of the Northern Corridor, which was affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war, to Turkey through the Middle Corridor.
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He said, “The country has implemented dozens of projects in the transport sector, amounting to $172 billion during the last twenty years, and it had a significant impact on investments and production.”
He pointed out that international companies are making plans to invest in Turkey and that Turkey is also continuing its investments in the infrastructure of the transportation sector.
Kara Ismailoglu stated that Turkey has implemented many infrastructure projects in the build-operate-transfer model with the aim of quickly filling the infrastructure deficit.
He explained that “the investments that were implemented during the last twenty years in the infrastructure sector were projects worth $37.5 billion that were implemented using the Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) model.”
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He continued, “Many giant projects were implemented in this model within a short period, such as Istanbul Airport, Osman Gazi Bridge, Istanbul-Izmir Expressway, and Çanakkale Bridge, which was implemented in only 4 years.”
And he added, “All the countries participating in the summit meetings of the International Transport Forum follow and closely monitor the huge projects implemented by Turkey in the transportation sector over the past 20 years.”
