The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has provided a EUR 300 million funding for Ispartakule-Cerkezkoy rail line in Turkey.
The project involves the construction of 67 km of new double-track, electrified, high-speed railway from Ispartakule station to a location adjacent to the east of Cerkezkoy station, approximately 1 km from the centre of Cerkezkoy. The project consists of three components. The first one covers the construction of the section and the required systems, including ERTMS Level 1, power supply and auxiliaries. This phase also includes the award for the construction supervision contract at Ispartakule station.
The second component covers the capacity development and technical assistance to the PIU on project management, procurement, monitoring, contract implementation, financial management and environmental and social activities, facilitating the timely and effective implementation of the project by providing assistance to the General Directorate of Infrastructure Investment.
The third component will see the livelihood restauration activities. A designated resettlement action plan (RAP) Fund will be created to cover the costs of livelihood restoration compensation that are not covered by the national expropriation budget. Turkish legislation does not provide compensation to informal land users, income losses for businesses and transactional costs which are covered, along with a contingency, in the RAP Fund to achieve the livelihood restoration requirements of EBRD.
“We thank AIIB’s contribution to the Ispartakule-Cerkezkoy rail line project. The railway is part of the TEN-T and of the Beijing – London Silk Railway. The project will provide safe, sustainable and low-carbon passenger and freight transport and will promote the climate resilience of Turkey’s transport infrastructure,” Yalçın Eyigün, the Director General of Infrastructure Investments at Turkey’s Ministry of Transport.
The works on this section received a EUR 150 million co-financing from the EBRD. The section is part of the Halkali – Kapikule railway line which will allow trains to run at a speed of 200 km/h, offering rail connection between Turkey and the EU and on the TRACECA route.
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