Istanbul’s new $6.5 billion airport is expected to be put out to tender before the end of this year.
The tender was announced earlier this week by the head of the infrastructure department of Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Communication.
The project was officially launched last August and domestic and international interest has been building since then, the Construction Index website reported today.
Metin Tahan, general manager of the ministry’s general directorate of infrastructure investments, said: “We have been receiving information requests from interested parties from all over the world.”
Turkish firms such as Sabanci, Limak, IC Holding and TAV, alongside other foreign companies, are reportedly interested in the project.
The first section of the airport – consisting of three runways and three taxiways with a 100 million passenger capacity terminal – is planned to be operational by 2016.
The new airport, which will be located in the North Western part of Istanbul, is expected to accommodate 150 million passengers a year.