EBRD investment to boost urban transport development in Turkey

The EBRD is helping to improve the reliability of the public transport system in Turkey’s most congested city, the bank reported.

The Bank is supporting the privatization of the world’s largest municipal ferry operator by injecting long-term finance into Istanbul’s urban transport sector.

It is the Bank’s first privatisation project with a transport operator in Turkey. The investment is part of the Bank’s wider approach to assist Turkey’s largest city in reforming its urban transport system.

The EBRD’s funds will enable Istanbul Deniz Otobusleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (IDO), a municipal ferry company, to achieve safer, cleaner, more efficient and more reliable ferry operations across the Bosphorus and the northern part of the Marmara Sea.

The EBRD is providing two loans of US$ 150 million in total to TASS, a consortium of three Turkish companies - Tepe Insaat, Akfen Holding, Sera Group Investments - and one UK company - Souter Investments - created to acquire IDO. The EBRD loans include a long-term senior loan of US$ 100 million and a medium-term junior loan of US$ 50 million.

As part of its investment programme, TASS will introduce new service quality and management efficiency programmes to ensure the reliability and safety of ferry operations. The project also includes the introduction of new demand-driven ticket tariffs and envisages the creation of new routes and intermodal passenger transportation services.

In Turkey, the EBRD focuses on renewable and sustainable energy, small business development in the regions, agribusiness, municipal, environment and other infrastructure, and privatisation.

Since the beginning of its operations in Turkey in 2009, the EBRD has committed nearly ˆ1 billion in about 30 projects with a total project value of around ˆ2 billion, with 100 per cent of the projects being investments into the development of the private sector.


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