Antalya Port, Turkey, expects to receive a green light for a project that would build a railway line, as soon as possible. A railway line is the only way to integrate the exports worldwide.
Özgür Sert, general manager of Port Akdeniz, the operator of Antalya Port, said that exporters and industrialists believe that this railway project should be developed.
This is hard to achieve considering that 2016 was a difficult period for Turkey and for the Antalya Port, despite the fact that Port Akdeniz reported a growth of 3% for 2016.
”We expect to double this figure in 2017”, Sert added.
In 2016, Antalya Port handled 2.6 million tons of cargo and over the last six years the port has invested USD 60 million. For 2017, the port needs USD 10 million for equipment purchase, dock renewals and technological infrastructure investments.
On behalf of the Ministry of Transport, Sert said that they gave briefings to private company managers which executed feasibility studies for the Antalya railway project. The general manager of Antalya Port noted that the connection of the port to the railway network is inevitable.
”Mineral exports such as marble, cement and chrome are being made in huge quantities from the Antalya Port. The sea is surrounded by railway. Antalya rail network is 90 kilometers away. Antalya’s primary priority should be to bring the rail freight line to the port”, Özgür Sert explaines.
”But it is important to build this railway connection to the port. It is envisaged that Tünektaepe will descend to the west side of the railway port. This is one of the most important aspects for the development of this region. Antalya has a project to connect Konya via Manavgat”, he said.
The project to connect Antalya to the railway network was initiated in 2014 and the costs were set to TRY 9 billion (USD 2.3 billion). The project to reduce the distance between Antalya and Istanbul to 3-4 hours requires the completion of the Baladız-Keçiborlu line to connect the Organized Industrial Zones (OIZ) in Konya, Afyonkarahisar, Burdur and Isparta to the Antalya Port.
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