July 24 (SeeNews) - A joint venture between Turkish firms Sembol Uluslararasi Yatirim, Ekopark Turizm and Fine Otelcilik has won a build-operate-transfer contract for the Halic Yacht Port and Complex project in Istanbul's Halic shipyard with a bid of $1.35 billion (1.02 billion euro), Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
The other competing bidder, a joint venture of Turkish construction companies Cengiz Insaat, Taca Insaat and Galeri Insaat, withdrew from the tender in the 21st round, news daily Hurriyet reported.
The contract envisages the development of two yacht ports, shopping and entertainment centres and two five-star hotels on two shipyard plots in the Halic port and the subsequent operation of the complex for 45 years.
Hurriyet cited Fettah Tamince, the owner of the Rixos Hotel Chain - which holds stakes in all of the companies that form the winning joint venture, as saying that it plans to make additional investments of some 1.0 billion Turkish lira ($525 million/396 million euro) in the project while aiming to attract an extra 1.0 million tourists per year.
(1 euro = 2.5237 Turkish lira)