Azerbaijan, Baku, March 17 /Trend/
A Turkish airports management company said on Thursday that Libya had called on them to continue the construction of Tripoli Airport, which was halted due to ongoing turmoil in that country, Anadolu News Agency reported.
Sani Sener, a CEO of Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV) Airports Holding Corporation, said Thursday the company had sent two engineers to Libya.
"They (the engineers) are assessing the situation, and we hope to return to Libya if it is suitable to work there," Sener told AA correspondent in Tunis, where he went to visit the company's investments.
Sener said he believed that there would not be any security problem in Tripoli even though turmoil continued for some more time.
"We have completed almost half of the airport construction," he also said.
Tripoli Airport Terminal Building Construction Project has been awarded to Odebrecht-TAV-CCC Joint Venture, as of September 2007. The project consists of construction of two terminal buildings, having an area of 175,000 sq.m. each, with 48 lifts, 26 elevators, 160 check-in counters, 12 baggage handling carrousels and 32 fixed and 64 mobile passenger boarding bridges. TAV had nearly 4,000 people worked in the project, including 250 Turks and 3,000 Thai and Vietnamese nationals.
Commenting on TAV's investments in Tunisia, Sener said the company was the biggest foreign investor in that country.
Sener said TAV had undertaken the management of Enfidha and Monastir airports in Tunisia, and a serious problem had not occurred at airports despite the incidents in the country.
"Passengers are using Enfidha Airport as airline companies prefer that airport, and therefore, cabs, and souvenir shop or cafe owners at the Monastir airport are staging demonstrations because they fear about a decline in their business," Sener said.
Sener said TAV workers were not staging protests in Tunisia, and the company would continue to manage the airport.
The TAV executive said tourists started to visit Tunisia again, and more foreign investors could come to that country from now on.
Sener also said TAV Group would continue to invest in many places around the world.
The leading airports operator in Turkey, TAV was established in 1997, as a joint venture between Tepe and Akfen Groups following their successful bid for the Istanbul Ataturk Airport International Terminal Contract.
Due to fast growth and new investment opportunities, TAV re-structured in 2006 and grouped its operation and construction services under "TAV Airports Holding" and "TAV Construction", and is now consistently continuing with new accomplishments.
TAV has undertaken the construction and operation of three major airports in Turkey (Istanbul Ataturk, Ankara Esenboga, Izmir Adnan Menderes and Antalya Gazipasa Airports) the Tbilisi and Batumi Airports in Georgia, Enfidha and Monastir Habib Bourguiba Airports in Tunisia, and Alexander the Great and St. Paul the Apostle Airports in Macedonia.
TAV Airports Holding is operating in ground handling services, operation services, duty free shops, food and beverage services, IT and security services.
In February 2007, TAV made 18.4 percent of its shares public.