Turkey gets $408m loan from AIIB for rail expansion

Turkey has secured $408 million from Beijing’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to expand its railway network.

The funds will also be used to modernise existing lines and purchase high-capacity inspection and maintenance machinery, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

The deal brings the total external financing Turkey has secured for project investments this year to $15 billion.

Foreign funding for transportation projects, particularly for developing the country’s railway infrastructure, has exceeded $5 billion, the statement said.

“Developing our railway infrastructure will increase our competitiveness, reduce our carbon footprint and facilitate compliance with the EU Border Carbon Adjustment,” said finance minister Mehmet Şimşek.

He said that Ankara is continuously working on securing low-cost financing from international institutions. 

In February Turkey secured a $5 billion investment commitment from AIIB to support its long-term climate strategy.

Ankara received $2.8 billion in green funding for a railway project connecting Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan’s southwest in July. It has also joined forces with Syria and Jordan to return the historic Hejaz railway to service, part of a wider programme of logistics cooperation between Ankara, Amman and Damascus. 

Further reading:

• Turkey secures $3bn to build Azerbaijan rail link
• Turkey to tender rail project under Development Road plan
• Turkey to reopen historic logistics link to Red Sea