Turkey's project to build and operate a 10 billion lira ($2.62 billion) suspension bridge over the Dardanelles Straits has drawn interest from 24 parties
Turkey's project to build and operate a 10 billion lira ($2.62 billion) suspension bridge over the Dardanelles Straits has drawn interest from 24 parties and a tender will be held on Thursday, a transport ministry official said.
"The tender will be held at 1030 a.m. (0730 GMT) today and the winning company will be announced by this evening," the official told Reuters.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in October that Asian and Turkish contractors had shown interest in the project and added that the construction of a 3.7-km (2.3-mile) bridge named "Çanakkale 1915" was expected to start on March 18, 2017 - the anniversary of one of the Ottoman Empire's final victories.
Yıldırım said it would take around five years to complete.
Turkey has forged ahead with ambitious infrastructure projects under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, including one of the world's largest suspension bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul which opened in August.
Turks mark what they call the Çanakkale war on March 18, when Ottoman forces repelled an Allied World War One assault on the Dardanelles -- the sole maritime outlet for arch foe Russia -- sinking a French battleship and destroying British warships.
