Turk Minister defends Bosporus bridge privatizations

Unakitan said on Wednesday the "Bogazici" and "Fatih Sultan Mehmet" bridges of Istanbul would be privatized, at a parliamentary meeting held to discuss the draft law envisaging the privatization of highways and bridges in Turkey, the Anatolian Agency reported.

He said such privatizations were of great importance taking into consideration the economic structuring and transformation process Turkey was going through currently. Â

Unakitan said a total of 303.1 million vehicles used the bridges over Bosphorus and highways in Turkey in 2007, and a gross amount of 641.5 million YTL ($521.5 mln) was earned from such crossings, the agency reported.

He also said the highways, which would be privatized by way of "transfer of operating rights," were located on six main routes and the total length of such roads reached 1,860 kilometers (1,155 miles).

Unakitan said the quality, strength and infrastructure and superstructure needs of the assets to be privatized, would be improved rapidly after the privatization process.

He added the privatization of highways and bridges would have numerous positive effects such as the transfer of high-technology, increase in productivity, decrease in traffic accidents, time and fuel savings and a reduction of environmental pollution.

Photo: AA