Nine foreign firms interested in third Istanbul bridge tender

ANKARA (A.A) - January 3, 2012 - Nine foreign companies have got specifications for a tender to construct the third bridge at the Istanbul Strait. Eighteen companies, including nine foreign and nine Turkish, are interested in the North Marmara Motorway tender, also including construction of a third bridge on the Bosphorus. The foreign companies were from Japan, Russia, Spain, Austria and Italy.  The tender will take place on January 10. Turkish Directorate General of Highways called for the North Marmara Motorway tender on March 8, 2011, and said the tender would take place on August 23, 2011. However, companies that received specifications for the tender asked the directorate to postpone the tender, and the tender was put off till January 10, 2012.  The 414-kilometer North Marmara Motorway will connect the northwestern provinces of Adapazari and Tekirdag to each other via a third bridge to be constructed on the Istanbul Strait. The project is expected to cost around 5 billion USD. It will be the second biggest build-operate-transfer project in Turkey following the 421-kilometer Istanbul-Izmir Motorway project.