The US$2.8 billion Malkara – Çanakkale Motorway public-private partnership (PPP) project includes the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge.
Mott MacDonald is lenders’ technical advisor for the scheme, which includes the design, construction, maintenance and operation of the 4,608m bridge, which will be the world’s longest spanning suspension bridge once complete.
The US$2 billion bridge will span 2,023m across the Dardanelles Strait. A headroom clearance of 70m under the main span will provide navigation across the busy waterway for the world’s tallest ships, while the 318m-tall steel towers will be founded on concrete caissons in the Çanakkale Strait.
Other construction works included in the PPP package include a 88km three-lane motorway between Malkara and Çanakkale, 48km of connection roads, 35km of access roads, six junctions, four viaducts, 36 overpasses, 33 underpasses and 140 culverts, as well as four service areas and tolling facilities. Daelim, Limak, SK Engineering and Yapi Merkezi are sponsors of the Malkara – Çanakkale Motorway PPP project.
Mott MacDonald carried out technical due diligence of the project documentation up to financial close.
Emre Yukarioglu, Mott MacDonald’s project manager, said: “The project, which involves 24 lenders including local and international banks and export credit agencies, is part of a greater development plan devised by the Turkish Directorate of Highways to complete a ring road around Marmara. Our local team based in Istanbul, supported by long-span bridge experts and our transport advisory team from the UK, worked hard to support a large lending group and comply with the tight timeline to bring the project to financial close.”
Construction of the Malkara – Çanakkale Motorway PPP, which has a concession period of just over 16 years, is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
