Third bridge contractor wins thermal plants for $2.67 billion amid workers’ protests

ANKARA

Plant workers are protesting outside the Privatization Administration building. AA Photo

Construction mogul IC İçtaş has won the rights to operate the Yeniköy and Kemerköy thermal power plants in the Aegean province of Muğla for $2.671 billion, amid protests by the plants’ workers who oppose the privatization.

IC İçtaş, also the contractor of the third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus and owned by Çeçen Holding, emerged victorious from a fierce auction against the joint venture of Kalyon and Çelikler, placing the highest bid for the two plants, which have a total installed capacity of 1,050 megawatts.

The auction was held in Ankara on April 18. The three-round tender was participated in by six bidders including Limak, which is one of the contractors of the third Istanbul airport, Konya Şeker, which is a local sugar producer also active in the agriculture-breeding and energy sectors, Ciner Group’s Park Holding, and Elsan, which is an energy generator company.

Following Park Holding, Konya Şeker, Elsan and Limak respectively withdrew from the tender, which started with an initial price of $1.035 billion, leaving the Kalyon-Çelikler venture and IC İçtaş in the auction process.

While the tender was taking place inside, mounted police forces staged a crackdown on plant workers, who were protesting outside the Privatization Administration building.

Denouncing the government’s privatization plans, the workers had been waiting outside the building since April 10.

Meanwhile, the ousted workers of another privatized facility, the Seyitömer thermal power plant, which was sold to Çelikler for $2.248 billion, also staged protests in the Aegean province of Kütahya on April 17.