UPDATE - Dam will add $83.5M to Turkish economy: President

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES BY TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Ferdi Turkten and Ilkay Guder

ARTVIN, Turkey (AA) - A new dam and hydroelectric power plant will pump some 450 million Turkish liras ($83.5 million) into Turkey’s economy every year, the country’s president said on Thursday.

The Yusufeli Dam in Artvin, northeastern Turkey will produce some 1.9 billion kilowatts per hour, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a campaign rally and ribbon-cutting ceremony ahead of the March 31 local elections.

Underlining that some 26 billion liras ($4.8 billion) had been invested in the province in the past 17 years, under the rule of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan also said recent upgrades to a border crossing with neighboring Georgia had recently been completed.

He announced that the upgrade would nearly bring the customs area of the Sarp border gate to more than five times its previous size, adding that Georgia was one of Turkey’s closest partners.

"I hope the new facilities at the Sarp border gate -- through which roughly 700,000 vehicles and 7 million people have come to enter and exit every year -- serve our country well," said Erdogan.

He also touted other recently completed projects in transportation education, sports, housing and health.