Turkey hopeful about receiving bids for third Bosphorus bridge

ANKARA (A.A) – February 12, 2012 - Turkey's transportation, maritime and communication minister has said that Turkey was hopeful about receiving bids for construction of a third bridge on the Istanbul Strait, Bosphorus. Binali Yildirim said the tender for construction of the third bridge on the Istanbul Strait would take place on April 5, 2012. "We are hopeful about receiving bids for the tender and we are expecting bids from Chinese companies," Yildirim told AA Editors' Desk in an exclusive interview. Yildirim said the ministry divided the 430-kilometer North Marmara Motorwoy project into two, and the first part of the project would be to build a 90-kilometer motorway and a bridge with build-operate-transfer model. "We will receive bids on April 5, and we will construct the rest of the project simultaneously from the national budget," he said. Yildirim said he was hopeful about receiving bids for the tender this time because the project was narrowed this time and was more profitable.  The minister said his ministry would welcome any project that could help solution of traffic jam in Istanbul including construction of a metrobus line on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.  Moreover, Yildirim said Istanbul would host 150 million air passengers by 2023 and therefore it was not possible to host those air passengers with current airports. "Istanbul needs a third airport, and we have fixed a place to construct the airport," Yildirim also said.