Turkey: Turkey, the world’s second largest contractor

Turkey has become increasingly popular as a second home location for British people. One major reason for this is the fact that its real estate has remained inexpensive despite the fact prices have dramatically risen in other parts of Europe.

In 2010, the number of second homebuyers rose in Turkey from 20,000 to 30,000, boosted by the large international real estate companies that have recently entered the market and which have created a mortgage system that has as well contributed to expanding Turkey’s economy. Owing to this increase, the construction and real estate sectors are additionally rising in importance.

Turkey’s economy is dynamic and continually growing thanks to these sectors and it is home to a number of globally competitive companies, amount of which currently do and will continue to serve as the foundation of Turkey in years approaching.

Alper Insaat, a construction company that has carried out projects in South America, the Middle East, Turkey and its neighbouring nations, is one of these companies. Alper Insaat has pursued other industries, but keeps its focus mainly in construction.

“Construction is such an significant sector because, like in any country, it impacts each other sector in Turkey’s economy. Currently the annual request for housing is about 150,000 and the number of houses being built in Istanbul is less than 30,000,” says Alper Ünsal, chairman of the board.

Mr Ünsal was a key contributor in the Kartal Project, the plan for a new, futuristic type of urban city environment that will be built in Istanbul. It is intended to be the world’s prime fully green city. This project was named part the top projects ever to be created by the Istanbul Metropolitan Planning Centre. Although Mr Ünsal would like to expand into other sectors, construction is so fruitful at this time in Turkey – and is his company’s field of expertise – his intention for the moment is to continue growing in construction.

“Our long-term plans are to expand into the energy sector, from presently on we would like to become as large as we can in the construction sector prime. The feasibility studies on Istanbul’s request for housing and business centres reveal that the sector is still promising to grow further,” Mr Ünsal explains.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRICES THROUGH THE YEARS HAVE MADE TURKEY AN ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR BRITISH SECOND HOME BUYERS

Nevertheless, while the construction industry is in high request these days in Turkey, serving additional than 400 different industries and accelerating other sectors, Mr Ünsal claims working in the industry is fulfilling in other ways, as well.

“Construction opens up a lot of doors and helps companies give back and commit to the social responsibility they have,” he explains. “An extra distinctive feature for us is that in each project we develop, we build part of a social area, such as cultural centres, small hospitals, parks, theatre halls, mosques, etc. Amount of this, of course, is a part of our social responsibility.”

An extra company that benefits from the construction industry and helps the Turkish economy is Kardemir, a multi-faceted iron and steel firm. It was established in 1937 and is currently the only company that locally produces iron ore as a raw material.

“Our competitors produce other products, but they work with scrap. The quality of the steel made from scrap is not as good as the steel made from iron ore, so the quality of our steel is unparalleled,” comments Fadil Demirel, general manager of Kardemir.

Kardemir as well produces various articles of mining equipment and is the only producer of steel for rail production. Furthermore, there is no other rail producer in the Middle East or North Africa, giving additional business and opportunities to Kardemir.

The company was privatised in 1995 and at this time, £126 million was invested to modernise and develop plants and to increase its force within the market. Kardemir consists of blast furnaces, steel plants, rolling mills, power plants, machinery factories, foundry plants, steel construction plants and a lime and oxygen plant. The company employs 5,000 workers and provides products for both the domestic and international markets.

Rail production capacity is 450,000 tonnes per year and a new plant is being built with a 2.5-million-tonne capacity.

In addition to iron and steel, Kardemir is involved in a hydraulic energy project with 22.5 megawatts (MW) in capacity, which will be finished at the end of the year. They as well have a 50MW energy project to produce energy from its own waste gas coming from its integrated plant. “We are going to collect waste gases and turn them into energy,” Mr Demirel explains. “We will get a return on our investment in just two and a half years.”

The major project Kardemir is involved in, however, is the building of its own harbour.