Those Crazy Turkish Contractors
Dec 2, 2015
Deserts or poles, Turkish construction companies create miracles with marginal and innovative solutions. Turkey-based construction companies generated $311 billion projects in 104 countries.
Sel?uk Tepeli - Mustafa Alkan
12 years ago Turkish construction companies set foot to Sakhalin Island at the eastern part of Russia. This is not a metaphor, I am talking about a real landing. Shell, the oil giant, was planning to build a facility in order to manage rich oil and natural gas reserves at the island. And, this facility would be the largest among counterparts. Turkey-based construction conglomerate ENKA won the tender. However there were no harbours for ships transporting gigantic construction materials to anchor. Ships from Russian Army were rented and materials were landed to the nearest beach to the site. There were only sea lions at the beach, which probably saw a human being for the first time.
43 years ago, when ENKA set up 3 cement factories in Libya, people did not believe Turkish construction firms could make it abroad. In the following 30 years, projects grew by number but most of them were residence buildings and offices with low added-value. In 2000’s projects started to become diversified. Turks built highways, tunnels, railway lines, airports, power facilities, transportation lines and heavy industry factories. According to a report published two months ago by Turkish Contractors Association, since 1972 the volume of business from 8,600 project is at $311 billion. Two thirds of this amount was realised between 2002-2014. Since 2005, Turkey’s construction income does not fall below $20 billion per annum. As a matter of fact in 2013, for the first time the income generated was over $30 billion. Unbelievable things happened…
LIKE A FILM IN THE POLE
Let’s start from the beginning… It was not just the lack of a harbour and the densely-populated sea lion community dwelling on this barren Russian island: ENKA had more challenges to fight against. Sakhalin is an island 10 times larger than Cyprus. Only 600,000 people were living on in the island. Transportation infrastructure was weak and there were scarcely any industry or agriculture. Screws for construction, as well as tomato paste used in workers’ dinner had to be brought from abroad. Construction site was enormous given that it accommodates 2,200 personnel. In order for the oil and natural gas facility to be built, 4,600 tonnes of steel and 32 kilometres of pipes were required. Time was limited. According to the agreement, in order to complete the facility in time, they must work 12 months non-stop. Even at winter months where temperature wasn’t getting better than -30 degrees and 8-9 snowstorms were hitting the area. Think about a place where it is possible to stay for only 1.5 minutes outside with -90 degrees apparent temperature. Moreover, the island was on North Pacific Fault Line and 7-8 earthquakes greater than 5 magnitude were happening in a year. Special clothing was provided to the workers and 16-vehicle ploughing unit was formed. Buildings were designed earthquake resistant and worksite was heated and illuminated by consuming 1000 tonnes of fuel monthly. In some cases welding was done at -40 degrees. In order to weld at that temperature the place was covered with cold-proof special material and room temperature was reached with compressors. $1.5 billion worth project was delivered in 2009.
RIVER TO DESERT
The river constructed to the Great Sahara by Tekfen Insaat (Tekfen Construction) has another interesting story. Tekfen undertook one stage of “Great Man-Made River Project” back in 2007. The project was called “Seventh Wonder of the World” by the former Libyan leader Gaddafi. The project aimed to meet drinkable and irrigation water need of Kufra district by transporting fossil water from 380 km away city of Tazirbu with a giant pipeline. More than 51,000 pipes, weighing 72 tonnes with 7.5 meters long and with a 4 meters diameter each were to be connected. For the team of 1,692 connecting the pipes was not the main issue though up to 65 degrees temperature and dealing with sand was. There were dozens of sand storms happening in a year. When the team started cooking food in the camp, this time scorpions and bugs invaded. Disinfection didn’t work so team started to keep chickens in the camp until one day fennec foxes eat them all. The project was completed in two years.
VILLA KENT IN 45 DAYS
System Construction got an urgent order in 2007. Order was for 24 fully-equipped villas to accommodate participants of Africa Union Leaders Summit in Agadez, Niger. However there was a 1.5 month time limit for the project. Once the project got accepted, construction materials and household furniture including fridges and ashtrays were gathered within two weeks. 805,000 tonnes of cargo was loaded to 23 Ilyushin 76 type freighter plane rented from Russia. Planes went through and back from Ankara Esenbo?a Airport to Sahara for three days. 350 personnel that will work on construction of the villas were sent with two planes. Guests loved the villas equipped with electronics and paintings two weeks later.
FIGHT WITH BLUE NILE
Western companies are expensive for many African countries. Chinese can lower the costs by bringing Chinese convicts to work on projects, however quality becomes a problem with this extreme solution. About 10 years ago Yap? Merkezi accepted a bridge project to be built upon Blue Nile in Khartoum from Sudan government. However Blue Nile was not really hospitable. The river went up and down by 5-6 meters in a year, hindering the use of classic bridge construction methods. Bridge was completed in a record 28 months and with a moderate price. The company utilised a rarely used method for bridge construction. In the months when the flow is low they casted concrete pillars on poles that are 40 meters deep into river base. When the flow is high they just pushed the long steel construction prepared to cover pillars with hydraulic system. They did the job with only 4 people which normally requires expensive cranes and 150 person manpower.
------ AIRPORT IN MONTHS-----
Another company that can be used as a trump in terms of experience and global competition is TAV Holding. When it was first established the company managed to complete Istanbul Atatürk Airport International Terminal in 22 months. This successful project put the company in radar. In short time TAV Holding became experienced enough to complete a full airport from runways to terminals and control towers at the same period of time. In numerous projects abroad all needs including financing, design, engineering services and application can be realised with TAV’s resources.
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Alpler'in alt?nda 2300 metre
2 Haziran 2016
?svi?re Alpleri'nin sembolü Gotthard Da??'n? delip ge?en 57 kilometrelik ikiz demiryolu tüneli, 1 Haziran'da Avrupa'n?n kuzeyi ile güneyini s?k? s?k?ya ba?lad?. 'Dünyan?n en uzun' tüneli, asl?nda 20. yüzy?l ba?lar?nda bir ?svi?reli mühendis taraf?ndan hayal edilmi?ti. 2010'dan sonra yap?m?n?n h?zlan?p hayalin ger?e?e d?nü?mesindeyse Türklerin parma?? var!
Sel?uk Tepeli - Boris Mabillard
Bir tünel dü?ünün! So?uk, karl? Alp Da?lar?'n?n i?inden, 2300 metre derinden ge?en... ?yle ki da?larda hava eksi 30'lardayken, dev klimalar ?al??t?r?lmad???nda i?indeki s?cakl?k 46 dereceyi bulan... Yahut ??yle diyelim: ?svi?re'yi deniz seviyesine indirmek, mühendislik dünyas? i?in "G?rev Mars" gibi bir kült filmin ad? olabilirdi. ?yle bir film yok tabii, ama ger?e?i var! Alman dü?ünür Goethe'nin tabiriyle "Alpler'in kral?" Gotthard Da??'n?n alt?nda a??lan 57 kilometrelik ikiz tünel ile 100 kilometreyi bulan yan ve ?apraz tünelleri, 1 Haziran'da a??ld?.
Konu zaten karma??k, biz de edebiyat? b?rakal?m. Ad?: Gotthard Base Tüneli. Avrupa bas?n?ndaki popüler ba?l???: "Bir mühendislik ba?yap?t?". ?svi?reliler i?in, neredeyse as?rl?k bir ulusal gurur. Peki ya Türkler i?in... Bo?az'?n alt?ndan tüneller a?an, k?talar? birbirine ba?layan, dünyan?n en büyük havaliman?n? in?a etmekte olan, uzun s?zün k?sas? rüya projeler ger?ekle?tirmeye al??an Türkler i?in de Gotthard Tüneli yeni bir ?vgü kayna??. Zira 11 milyar Euro'ya malolan bu eserin tamamlanmas?nda Türk in?aat ?irketi R?nesans'?n da rolü büyük.
Ama her ?ey para de?il. Projenin y?neticisi Renzo Simoni, bu tür devasa projelerin ne maliyetinin ne de maddi-manevi getirisinin tam olarak hesaplanabilece?ini s?ylüyor. 3 dine mensup din adamlar?n?n dualar?, binlerce insan?n kat?l?m?yla ger?ekle?en g?rkemli a??l?? t?reni de bunu kan?tl?yor.
TüRKLER?N EL? DE?D?
?lk planlar? ?svi?reli mühendis Eduard Gruner taraf?ndan 1947'de yap?lan tünel, ?svi?re gibi bir ülke i?in bile asl?nda ?ok pahal? bir hayaldi. 1992'de maliyeti i?in bir halk oylamas? bile düzenlendi. Yüzde 64'le "Evet" diyen, yol i?in yeni vergileri kabul eden ?svi?relilerin, yine de ilk kazmay? 1999'a kadar beklemesi gerekti. 2002'de da??n delinmesine ba?land?. 2010'larda ?al??malar h?zland?. ALPINE Hergiswil adl? ?irketi 2013'te bünyesine katan R?nesans da bu d?nemde dev projeye dahil oldu. Art?k R?nesans ?n?aat Hergiswil ismiyle faaliyet g?steren ?irket, Gotthard Base Projesi'ni üstlenen AFTTG (ARGE Fahrbahn Transtec Gotthard), TTG Konsorsiyumu (Transtec Gotthard) ve TAT Konsorsiyumu'nda (Tunnel Alp Transit-Ticino) ?nemli role sahip. Ard?ndan R?nesans ?n?aat Hergiswil, proje i?in son moda demiryolu teknolojisini de temin etti. R?nesans 2014'te gü? sistemleri, endüstriyel tesisler, k?prü, altyap? gibi projeleri hayata ge?iren 124 y?ll?k Alman Heitkamp’? da alarak projedeki yerini iyice sa?lamla?t?rd?. ?imdi Avrupa bas?n?ndaki yorumlara bak?l?rsa, tamamlanmas? 4.5 y?l geciken Berlin'in yeni havaliman? nedeniyle Alman mühendislerin kaybetti?i itibar, "Gottardo" ile bir nebze olsun telafi edilecek.
GOTTHARD EFSANES?
Bu projeyle Gotthard Da??'n?n ge?ilmesi ?ylesine ?nemli ki; mesela ?svi?reliler "Gotthard yoksa ?svi?re de yoktur" der. ??te o da?? delen dünyan?n en uzun ve en derin demiryolu tüneliyle art?k Kuzey Denizi'nden Akdeniz'e do?ru; Hollanda, Almanya, ?svi?re ve ?talya aras?nda, ya?l? k?tan?n ortas?nda s?k? bir ba? kuruldu. Zürih ile Milano aras? 1 saat k?sal?p 2 saat 40 dakikaya indi. Aylardan beri projenin internet sitesinde saniye saniye a??l???n geri say?m?n? yapan ?svi?reliler i?in, zaman ?nemli. Ama tünelin zaman kazand?rmaktan daha ?nemli faydalar? var.
?u anda bu b?lgeden y?lda 1.2 milyon kamyon ve benzeri dizel yak?t tüketen ara? ge?iyor. Art?k bu ara?lar?n ta??d??? yük trenlere yüklenecek, trenler de Gotthard Tüneli'nden ge?erek adeta Alpler'in alt?nda bir u?a?a yüklenmi? gibi olacak. Bu tünelden her gün, a??rl??? 4 bin tona ula?an 260 yük treni ge?ebilecek. Gottardo'da y?lda 40 milyon ton yük ta??nmas? bekleniyor. ?te yandan ayn? anda günde 65 yolcu treni de saatte 250 kilometre h?zla bu tünelde yol alacak. ?te yandan projenin ülkede yaratt??? istihdam 4 bini buluyor. Gotthard Da?? delinirken ??kan 28 milyon ton kaya, Alplerde ?ak?l elde etmek i?in taranm?? alanlar? ve g?lleri eski haline getirmek i?in kullan?l?yor. Kaz? ve in?aat s?ras?nda ula??lan, s?cakl??? 50 dereceye varan pek ?ok su kayna?? i?in, bal?k ?iftlikleri gibi farkl? projeler üretiliyor. Tünel in?aat?n?n Turizme bile katk?s? oldu, son 10 y?lda sadece tünel in?aat?n? g?rmek i?in b?lgeye gelen turist say?s? 1 milyonu buluyor.
TEST SüRü?LER?YLE DüNYA TURU
Gottardo'da bugüne dek toplam 5 bin test sürü?ü ger?ekle?tirildi; bu rakam dünyan?n etraf?n? birka? kez dola?maya e? de?er. 11 Aral?k 2016'da ticari seyahatler ba?layana kadar 3 bin test sürü?ü daha yap?lacak. Ve ard?ndan 1882'den beri hizmet veren emektar Gotthard Summit Tüneli emekliye ayr?lacak. Gotthard Base, 2019'da "k?z karde?i" Ceneri Tüneli'nin a??lmas?yla tam rand?manl? ?al??maya ba?layacak. Baz?lar? i?inse o kadar beklemeye gerek yoktu. A??l?? günü tünelden ilk ge?i? i?in ?svi?re vatanda?lar? aras?nda bir piyango düzenlenmi?ti ve kazananlar, Almanya Ba?bakan? Angela Merkel'den ?talya Ba?bakan? Matteo Renzi'ye kadar a??l??a kat?lan pek ?ok ?nemli siyaset?iden ?nce tüneli ge?en ilk trene bindiler. Mars turistleri henüz beklemedeyken o ?ansl? ?svi?reliler kendilerini arz?n merkezine seyahat etmi? sayabilirler.
--resimalt?--
Gotthard Base Tüneli ya da "Gottardo", 50.5 kilometrelik Japon Seikan Tüneli'ni ge?erek dünyan?n en uzun demiryolu tüneli unvan?n? kazand?.