Turkey to accelerate indigenous infrastructure projects

By Arife Yildiz Unal

ANKARA (AA) - In recent years, Turkey has achieved great gains in terms of its economy by raising its rate of indigenous products in infrastructure from 2% to 25%, the Turkish transport and infrastructure minister said.

The country's goal is to increase this rate to 65% in the first place, Adil Karaismailoglu told Anadolu Agency.

Infrastructure investments in developing countries take large shares from the annual budget, he noted.

"We are structuring a complete foundation in the field of transportation and communication to prepare the country for [the future] opportunities, respond to the transportation needs of the neighboring countries, and support our economy with gains through our 'logistics' power," he underlined.

"Turkey can no longer leave its plans to chance or live its destiny set by advanced states. It is not that compatible with the 'Great Turkey' thinking," he said.

He stressed: "We make efforts to achieve the best both quantitatively and qualitatively, with our own resources, public-private partnerships, and outsourcing."

This alternative approach ensures increasing the speed and quality of the country's projects, and Turkey proceeds with effective investments without delay, he added.

"We have laid the milestones of the total development of Anatolia with dozens of inter-city tunnels, thousands of kilometers of highways, bridges to connect cities waiting to be linked to each other for decades," he underlined.

Pointing out that the country plans alternative and environmental-friendly types of transportation, Karaismailoglu noted: "One of the most obvious indicators of this is the exceptional importance we attach to the railways. Turkey achieved a fast construction in the railway area, including Anatolia and the Thrace, where constructing railways is not easy compared to various other geographies across the globe."

* Writing by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul.