ANKARA
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has announced it is to finance the construction and operation of a new domestic terminal at Dalaman airport in the south-western Turkish province of Mugla.
The new terminal will increase the domestic passenger capacity at Dalaman to 10 million passengers a year from the current three million, significantly boosting Turkey's tourism industry, the EBRD said in a statement Wednesday.
The existing terminal, which dates back to 1981 and is currently used for domestic flights, will be replaced by a new energy-efficient and environmentally friendly domestic terminal with auxiliary structures including road access and parking facilities.
The project will accommodate the strong growth in domestic and international traffic at Dalaman airport, which saw about 1 million domestic flights and 3.2 million international flights in 2014, according to the EBRD.
While Dalaman is a small city of 25,000 people, its airport is a gateway to some of the most popular tourist destinations in Turkey, including Marmaris, Fethiye, Dalyan, Kalkan and Kas.
Busy airport
With flights to and from over 120 destinations across Turkey, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Dalaman is currently one of the busiest airports serving the Turkish Riviera.
The European bank is financing the project via a private-public initiative under which it will lend €175 million ($198 million) to YDA Havalimani Yapim ve Isletme, a holding company set up specifically for the project by the Turkish construction and infrastructure company YDA Insaat, which was awarded the concession contract last year.
The EBRD's financing is composed of a 16-year loan of €87.5 million ($99.2 million) from the bank’s own account and a 15-year loan of €87.5 million syndicated to UniCredit Bank Austria.
The EBRD began investing in Turkey in 2009 and currently operates from offices in Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep.
Turkey became the bank’s largest single recipient in 2014 with new investments worth €1.4 billion.
The EBRD has invested more than €5 billion in the country to date across more than 140 projects in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, industry and finance.
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