On Feb 4, NPR ran a story about some of Istanbul’s mega
projects. The current prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power for
more than a decade, is said to have an unstoppable appetite for giant building
projects. He is pushing ahead for “a third bridge over the Bosphorus Strait, an
airport billed as the world’s largest, and a new waterway that would run
parallel to the Bosphorus, which critics are calling the ‘crazy canal’”. Local
reactions range from skepticism that some of these will succeed, to concerns
about environmental disruptions to forests and fisheries, to opportunistic
speculation that the already booming real estate will in some cases further
benefit from these infrastructure improvements.
More recently, Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas announced plans
on Feb 12 to build 19 cable car and airway projects to connect two population
centers on Istanbul’s European and Anatolian sides across the Bosphorus.
The real estate boom is attracting many investors from
Germany, China, and all over the world. According to a Feb 23 story on Sunday’s
Zaman, Turkey again led Europe in house price increases in 2013.
Read more : Turkey leads Europe in house price increases
This lucrative opportunity has not escaped the attention from America’s most
famous real estate mogul Donald Trump, who is reported to have tied up with luxury
furniture maker Dorya to launch a new line of “Trump Home” upholstery in
Istanbul in April. Dorya will be hand making all items from its Izmir, Turkey
facility.
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