Project Model
Nakkaş-Başakşehir Motorway Project (“Project”), which is part of the Northern Marmara Motorway on the European side of Istanbul, was launched by the General Directorate of Highways (“KGM”) on March 27, 2020. The project model is build-operate-transfer (“BOT”) under the “Law No. 3996 on the Realisation of Certain Investments and Services through the BOT” Model dated 8 June 1994.
Traffic Guarantee
Similar to the precedent BOT model motorway projects in Türkiye, the project benefits from traffic guarantee provided by KGM over minimum tolls for different types of vehicles as agreed in the Implementation Contract.
Debt Assumption Undertaking
Debt assumption fundamentally refers to the assumption of the loan and financing costs by the relevant public entity on behalf of the State upon termination of the underlying concession agreement (i.e, the implementation contract in motorway projects) regardless of the reason of the termination.
As per the BOT Law No. 3996, the debt assumption undertaking in the Nakkaş-Başakşehir Project is given by both KGM and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye (“Ministry of Transport”). The Project is the first and only project where the debt assumption undertaking is given by both KGM and the Ministry of Transport, whereas it was given by either KGM alone or the Turkish Treasury in the precedent motorway projects.
Financing
The Project was financed by the IFIs, the IDBs and other financial institutions, including EBRD, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, UBS and VakıfBank, and backed by the ECAs, including Atradius, the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and SERV Swiss Export Risk Insurance.
The Project won the “Global Infrastructure Deal of the Year” award at PFI Awards 2024 and the “PPP Deal of the Year” award at 9th PPP Week Awards 2025.
Ergün Law Firm represented the Sponsors, Rönesans Holding A.Ş. and Samsung C&T Corporation, in this groundbreaking deal.
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