Turkish construction companies have ongoing projects in Libya worth of nearly 20 billion USD.
Umit Ozdemir, director-general of Tekfen Construction, said, "Tekfen Holding’s turnover reached 2.5 billion USD in 2010 while Tekfen Construction’s turnover amounted to 900 million USD."
"Our company operates in 12 countries including Libya, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. We reached a 260 million USD-agreement to build auxiliary facilities of the South Yoloten project for Turkmengas and natural gas pipeline in Turkmenistan yesterday," he said at a press conference held to promote the report "Turkey’s Construction Leaders 2010".
"We signed a 500 million USD contract with Libya for a project to transport water from desert to coastal area. We have completed 75 percent of the project. But we have to halt our operations after eruption of the crisis in the country. We had 1,600 workers working in the project. 407 of them were Turks and 400 of them were Libyans while the rest came from different countries. Libyan workers left the construction area. We have gathered the other workers in our worksite in the desert. We are trying to do everything to bring them to Turkey," he said.
Ozdemir said that Turkish companies had ongoing projects in Libya worth of 20 billion USD. "We need our government’s assistance. Otherwise, we cannot do anything on our own," he added.
Husenyin Esenergul, CEO of Ronesans Holding, said on his part that they had won two tenders for construction of a stadium and a building in Libya 2010. "We have not yet begun constructing the buildings. There were 180 Turkish workers in our construction area and all of them returned to Turkey via Egypt," he added.