Turkish Contracting in the International Market
The Turkish Construction and Contracting Industry is one of the leading
industries in Turkey. A total of 33 Turkish construction/contracting companies
were selected for the Top International Contractors List prepared by the
Engineering News-Record in 2009; which made the Turkish
construction/contracting industry the world's 2nd largest in that year, ranking
behind the China.
During the periods in which investments slowed down in the public and private
sectors, foreign contracting services gained importance. The shrinking of the
economy in Turkey and the bottleneck in the construction sector resulting from it,
has forced construction companies to concentrate more on business abroad.
The opening of the Turkish contractors to foreign markets started at the
beginning of the 1970s. The first country to which Turkish contractors exported
their services was Libya, where they started their projects by importing the
necessary technology from European countries.
Later on, the growing Turkish contracting services expanded to other foreign
markets such as Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates,
Yemen and Iran. Particularly during the 1970s, 90% of the expatriate works
undertaken were realized in Arab countries. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the
Turkish Contractors have oriented themselves more towards the former Soviet
Union countries. In the 1990s, due to the economic depression and the political
uncertainties in the Middle Eastern and North African countries, the Turkish
Contractors have focused predominantly on the Commonwealth of Independent
States, Eastern Europe and Asian countries. In this framework, they have
undertaken important projects in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the Caucasus,
the Central Asian Republics, Germany, Pakistan and the Far East.
The total volume of work undertaken by Turkish Contractors has reached 110
billion US Dollars. The Turkish Contractors Association (TCA) has currently 139
members from Turkeys main contracting companies.[ 90% of the members of
TCA is composed of engineers and architects. These highly qualified professionals
are responsible for the realisation of 70% of domestic construction works and
80% of over 4200 projects undertaken in 69 countries.
The works of Turkish contractors can be evaluated over three decades plus the
period between 2000-2005.
1972 - 1979 Period
Most of the works undertaken during this period were in North Africa and
especially in Libya (72.54%) and later on, in Saudi Arabia (15.44%), Iraq (7.25%),
Kuwait (4.71%), Greece (0.06%) and Iran (0.01%).
The most important field of activity in this period was housing (32.14%), followed
by harbours (18.11%), road/ bridge/ tunnel works (11.67%) and urban
infrastructure projects (8.19%).
1980 - 1989 Period
Most of the works undertaken during the second decade were realized in Libya
again, despite a relative decrease in proportion (55.05%). Saudi Arabia (24.38%)
and Iraq (11.16%) were ranking respectively second and third thus maintaining
the position they had occupied during the first decade. The emergence of the
former Soviet Union was a new development that occurred during this period
(3.50%). Other countries in which Turkish contractors started working were
Jordan, Yemen, Iran, the USA, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
During this period, housing activities (38.90%) and urban infrastructure projects
(17.52%) increased and were followed by road/ bridge/ tunnel (6.69%) and
agricultural projects (6.33%).
1990-1999 Period
In the third decade, the trend changed completely. While the share of the
Russian Federation increased to (36.19%), Libya's share decreased drastically to
(11.19%). Libya was followed by Pakistan (6.92%) and Turkmenistan (6.67%).
The works undertaken in the former Soviet Union countries, together, amounted
to 61%. The differentiation of the countries in which new projects were
undertaken was a novel development characteristic of this decade. Pakistan
(6.92%), Turkmenistan (6.67%), Kazakhstan (6.55%), Uzbekistan (4.29%),
Bulgaria (2.79%), the USA (2.69%), Azerbaijan (2.30%) and Croatia (1.86%)
emerged as new markets. Other important developments were the considerable
decrease in the proportion of works in Saudi Arabia (3.44%) and disappearance of
Iraq from the scene. The “other” category comprised 33 countries with a
proportion of 8%.
Despite a decrease in the proportion of housing works (23.89%), it remained the
first ranking activity. However, this did not mean a decrease in housing works in
terms of value. The value of the housing projects undertaken during this period
was also high. Housing was followed by road/ bridge/ tunnel works (12.84%),
industrial facilities (9.65%) and commercial centers (8.13%).
The highest proportion of the projects undertaken during this period was in the
Russian Federation and the other former Soviet Union countries.
2000 - 2007 Period
The period after the year 2000 is a period where markets showed even more
differentiation and where there was specialization in certain types of projects.
The number of countries, in which Turkish contractors worked, increased
considerably and that caused the percentage of work in each country to decrease
relatively. Nevertheless, the Russian Federation maintained the first rank
(14.66%) and was followed by Romania (11.46%) and Kazakhstan (9.55%).The
interesting developments in this period are, apart from Romania, the emergence
of the United Arab Emirates (7.75%), Afghanistan (5.34%), Ireland (4.66%), Qatar
(3.33%), Algeria and Morocco as new markets. After the interventions that took
place in Afghanistan and Iraq, the rebuilding activities in these countries were
closely followed by TCA member companies, just as it was in the rest of the
world.
When the types of work undertaken during this period are considered,
road/bridge/tunnel works occupy the first rank (24.47%), followed by industrial
facilities (14.52%), airports (8.33%), social and cultural facilities (6.54%) and
housing (6.08%).
The total value of work undertaken amounted to 5.4 billion US Dollars in 2004,9.3
billion US Dollars in 2005, 15,9 billion US Dollars in 2006 and 19,5 billion US
Dollars in 2007.
ENR (Engineering News Record)'s Top International Contractors 2009
ranking based on the revenues generated outside home countries in 2008 lists
31 Turkish Contractors among Top 225 [Link];
In Top 100
37th ENKA, 66th GAMA, 70th ANT YAPI,
82nd TEKFEN, 85th RENAISSANCE
Others
102nd TAV, 106th NUROL, 110th YUKSEL,
114th STFA, 125th BAYTUR 127th YAPI MERKEZI, 149th GURIS, 150th YENIGUN,
159th POLIMEKS, 161th KONTEK, 162nd ONU, 163rd GAP,
164th HAZINEDAROGLU, 171th SUMMA,
173rd MAKYOL, 179th BETA-TEK, 190th RASEN, 181th CENGIZ, 183rd
CUKUROVA, 184th DOGUS, 200th ALARKO, 205th ESER, 207th ATLAS,
211th MESA, 225th TML
The Ranking according to the Total Turnovers are as follows;
Turnover Over USD 5 Billion
ENKA
Turnover Over USD 1 Billion
ANT YAPI, GAMA, TEKFEN,
Turnover USD 500 M - USD 1 Billion
GURIS, CENGIZ, RENAISSANCE, NUROL, YAPI MERKEZI, TAV, ALARKO,
YUKSEL, MAKYOL, STFA
Turnover USD 250 M - USD 500 M
DOGUS, BAYTUR, KAYI, HAZINEDAROGLU, YENIGUN , ONUR
Turnover USD 100 M - USD 250 M
POLIMEKS, KONTEK, CUKUROVA, GAP, SUMMA, MESA, BETATEK,
RASEN, ATLAS, ESER, TML
