Turkish Finance Minister Şimşek unveils large-scale privatization of infrastructure facilities

Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced that hydroelectric power plants, ports, highways, bridges, and belonging to state-owned Electricity Generation Company (EÜAŞ) would be privatized in the upcoming period.

Wednesday November 01 2023 05:11 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s Finance and Treasury Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced that some hydroelectric power plants, ports, highways, bridges, and lands belonging to the Electricity Generation Corporation (EÜAŞ) would be privatized while answering the questions of the lawmakers after the 2024 budget negotiations of his ministry at the Parliamentary Plan and Budget Commission.

Şimşek did not name the infrastructure facilities to be privatized and said, "There are no new assets planned to be included in the scope of privatization,” according to reporting of daily BirGün.

The government-owned company is the largest electricity producer in Turkey and and meets twenty percent of production

After Şimşek stated that they would not privatize any new public institutions other than those in the program, the opposition MPs responded, "What is left that you have not already sold, you have sold everything we have.”

The bridges and highways mentioned by the minister for potential privatization, such as the Istanbul-Ankara highway and the Istanbul Bosphorus Bridge, were originally constructed using public funds and currently offer more affordable tariffs than privately operated alternatives. If they were to be privatized, it is anticipated that toll prices on these routes would significantly rise.