Thursday, May 31, 2012 -
Polimeks, a major Turkish construction company in Turkmenistan, has been given the green light from the Ashgabat government to build the second phase of an Olympic city in the capital, Turkish media reported Thursday.
Under the terms of the soon-to-be-signed $1.4 billion deal, Polimeks is to complete phase two ahead of the scheduled 2017 Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games.
This will be the first time the games are hosted by a Central Asian country.
The Turkish firm will build an indoor athletics complex, a covered tennis court that will seat 4,000 spectators, a 5,000-seater water complex, and a hotel, the Anatolia News Agency reported.
The first phase cost the Turkmen government around $2 billion to begin construction on 16 million square feet of land in a project that began in 2010.
Turkmenistan will invest a total of some $5 billion into the Olympic city.
Aside from the Olympic City plans, Turkish builders have been given deals with a total worth exceeding $2.6 billion this year alone.
The investments reflect a construction drive by the Turkmen state to expand the country’s key infrastructure.
Turkish contractors are currently building highways, bridges, railways, a port, school, and hospital, as well as erecting drilling platforms to tap the country’s vast natural gas resources, and related infrastructure.