01 September 2005

Having focused on developing business in the regional and European markets and achieved considerable success, the Turkey’s Construction juggernaut, is now turning its attention towards the fast developing markets of Ireland, India, Oman, Qatar and Afghanistan and the fast-growing markets of the UAE.

Recently, Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi has been part of the four-company consortium that was awarded the $512 million deal Dubai Rapid Link project. Last year, Yuksel Insaat Saudia – having maintained a leading position in the construction market in Saudi Arabia – strengthened it further through securing major dam projects in the kingdom.
Having already completed work on few of the major projects in the kingdom, the Saudi arm of Yuksel Insaat – one of the largest Turkish construction companies – was awarded the SR198 million (52.79 million) Baysh dam project – followed by the SR263 million ($70.12 million) Murwani Dam project.
Turkey’s construction sector has done appreciably well in the new millennium by increasing its share in the construction sector of the Russian Federation to 19.28 per cent, followed by Turkmenistan (15.20 per cent), Kazakhstan (10.55 per cent), Saudi Arabia (7.53 per cent) and Afghanistan (6.32 per cent). In this period, the share of Libya dipped further to 6.24 per cent. Turkish firms are also awaiting the cessation of military activities in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the three-year period ending 2003, the total value of the projects undertaken by Turkish firms has amounted to $4.5 billion. The most important fields of activity have been industrial facilities (24.51 per cent), followed by road/bridge/tunnel (23.33 per cent), petrochemical plants (11.06 per cent), administrative buildings (6.86 per cent) and commercial centres (5.40 per cent). Housing (1.55 per cent) saw a very sharp decrease in this period and fell to the bottom of the list.
The value of the works reported by the TCA member companies in the last three decades amounts to $38.5 billion and the value of the unreported works is estimated at $6.5 billion, combining to give a total of $45 billion. The value of works carried out by non-members is estimated to be $5 billion in the same period and hence it can be drawn that Turkish contractors have carried out an estimated $50 billion of work abroad in the last 30 years, the spokesman points out.
Historically, the export of Turkish contracting services began in the first half of the 1970s, through opening up operations in Libya. Here Turkish companies imported and implemented the necessary technology from European countries. Later, these contracting activities were extended to other international markets, beginning with countries in the Middle East, such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Yemen and Iran.
In the early 1980s, Turkish contractors entered the then Soviet Union and have now extended their presence to 56 countries across four continents, using all the financial, managerial and technological instruments required to reach international contracting standards.
Turkish contractors have established very good relations with clients, have gained first-hand knowledge of the region and its business environment and have successfully completed a wide variety of projects, employing Turkish labour and using Turkish goods and building materials, says a spokesman for the Turkish Contractors Association (TCA).
Elaborating on the growth of Turkey’s construction sector the spokesman says: The growth of Turkish construction companies can be evaluated in three decades.”

1972 – 1979
In this period, most of the works outside of Turkey were undertaken in North Africa, primarily in Libya (72.54 per cent), and followed by Saudi Arabia (15.44 per cent), Iraq (7.25 per cent), Kuwait (4.71 per cent), Greece (0.06 per cent) and Iran (0.01 per cent).
The most important activity field in this period was housing (32.14 per cent) followed by seaports (18.11 per cent), road/bridge/tunnel construction (11.67 per cent) and urban infrastructure (8.19 per cent).
The total value of the projects undertaken in this period was $1.8 billion.

1980 – 1989
In the second decade, the largest share of the total work performed was still in Libya (53.81 per cent), although the importance of this country had declined in relative terms. Saudi Arabia (25.37 per cent) and Iraq (11.61 per cent), which were the second and third countries respectively in the first decade, maintained their positions.
A new development in this period was the emergence of the Soviet Union as a market (5.2 per cent). Other markets included: Jordan, Yemen, Iran, the United States, Tunisia, UAE, Kuwait and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
In this period, the share of housing (38.66 per cent) and urban infrastructure (18.77 per cent) increased, followed by road/bridge/tunnel construction (7.16 per cent) and irrigation (6.5 per cent). The total value of the projects undertaken in this period was $12.3 billion.

1990 – 1999
In the third decade, the trend changed completely, with the share of the Russian Federation rising to a massive 35.63 per cent while the share of Libya stumbled down to 11.51 per cent, followed by Pakistan (6.89 per cent) and Turkmenistan (6.80 per cent). When the countries of the former Soviet Union are considered in the same pool, the share of these countries becomes 60.64 per cent. A significant development in this period was the diversification of the countries where work was carried out, with the emergence of markets such as Pakistan (6.89 per cent), Turkmenistan (6.8 per cent), Kazakhstan (6.36 per cent), Uzbekistan (4.31 per cent), Bulgaria (2.78 per cent), the US (2.68 per cent), Azerbaijan (2.36 per cent) and Croatia (1.85 per cent).
In addition, the period also witnessed a drastic fall in the share of Saudi Arabia (3.37 per cent) and the disappearance of the Iraqi market from the scene. Under the classification of “others” there are 33 countries accounting for 9.55 per cent of the work volume.
In this period, the share of housing decreased (24.40 per cent), although it held on to the first ranking place. However, this did not mean a decrease in housing works in terms of value. Housing was followed by road/bridge/tunnel construction (12.98 per cent), industrial facilities (11.11 per cent) and trade centres (8.38 per cent).
The total value of the projects in this period amounted to $19.8 billion. Of this, the Russian Federation accounted for $7 billion and the other former Soviet Union countries $5 billion.

Turkish Contractors Association
An independent, non-profit organisation based in Ankara, Turkey, TCA was founded in 1952 and consists of 138 member companies. The business volume of its members encompasses nearly 70 per cent of all domestic and 90 per cent of all international contracting work done so far by Turkish construction companies.
In addition to offering contracting services at international standards both within and outside Turkey, nearly 75 per cent of TCA members are also active in various fields of construction industry investments, manufacturing and engineering consulting. A significant number of upscale tourist facilities, with a total capacity of 50 000 beds and representing 25 per cent of Turkey’s total capacity have been built by the TCA members.
“With a history more than half a century, the TCA is the oldest and most experienced professional organisation in the construction industry in Turkey,” says the spokesman.
TCA and seventy per cent of its member companies operate with ISO Quality System Certificate and works towards achieving the following objectives:
• To increase the competitiveness of its members in the international markets;
• To contribute to the achievement of an economically productive, socially responsible and environmentally sound development in the construction industry;
• To provide counsel to the government agencies on legal, economic and technical issues that are related to the construction industry;
• To build and enhance strategic alliances with public and private bodies both within and outside Turkey;
• To defend and promote the interests of its members;
• To encourage cooperation and mutual support among its members;
• To promote professional standards and business ethics; and
• To raise public awareness on industry related issues.

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