Azerbaijan, Baku, 12 March / Trend, A. Taghiyeva /
Construction of Petkim Petrochemical Holding's container port and power plant in Izmir will begin in 2013, the head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji, a board member of Petkim Petrochemical Holding Kenan Yavuz told Trend on Tuesday.
According to Yavuz, an environmental impact assessment is at the final stage. It is expected that construction of the power plant will be completed in 2016, the same year the plant will be put into operation, he said.
"Initially, construction of the power plant was estimated at $ 700 million. However, we intend to increase investments to $1 billion to minimize environmental damage," Yavuz said.
Yavuz noted that the container port will have a capacity of 1.5 million TEU at the initial phase; later, its capacity will be increased to four million TEU.
$300 million will be invested in construction of the port. The first part of the investment process will be completed in 2015, when the port will be put into operation. The second part of the investment process will be completed in 2016, he said.
Petkim and Dutch company APM Terminals signed an agreement on container port construction with a capacity of 1.5 million TEU in February last year.
The capacity will exceed the capacity of Alsancak port by about 50 percent during APM Terminals' management of the port.
APM Terminals will have the right to manage the port for 28 years.
Earlier, SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.S and SOCAR International DMCC OGG acquired a 10.32 per cent stake in Petkim, increasing SOCAR's stake in the company to 61.32 per cent. Some 38.67 per cent are in free circulation on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
Petkim Petrokimya Holding manufactures plastic packages, fabric, PVC and detergents. It is the only Turkish producer making such products, a quarter of which the company exports.