Highways and facilities under the responsibility of KGM were included in the scope of privatization

The Presidential Decree regarding the inclusion of the three highways and connection roads under the responsibility of KGM and other goods and service units and assets on them, such as maintenance and operation facilities, service facilities, toll collection centers and freight transfer centers, within the scope and program of privatization, was published in the Official Gazette.

A statement was made on the website of the Privatization Administration (ÖİB) regarding the privatization of the highways and bridges in question.

THE PRIORITY IS "IMPROVING THE QUALITY"

In the statement, it was stated that the studies in question were aimed at "evaluating a model based on the transfer of operating rights for a certain period of time, provided that the ownership remains with the state, rather than the sale of public assets", and the following was noted:

"In this model, the priority is not to generate revenue, but to improve the quality of service on highways, to accelerate maintenance and investments, and to increase operational efficiency. On the other hand, incomplete and misleading evaluations are made in the public opinion that highways make an annual profit of 600 million dollars and that the total profit for 30 years has reached 18 billion dollars. However, 600 million dollars is not profit, but income. Approximately 300 million dollars of this amount is allocated to maintenance and repair expenses. In addition, there are significant amounts of investment and renewal expenses, as well as personnel and operating expenses. All these "Calculations made by ignoring costs do not reflect the true economic value of highways and mislead the public."

In the statement, it was also argued that there was no decision to turn toll-free highways into tolls, no further increase in tolls, and no decision that would cause employees to lose their current rights.