ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that, jointly with IHI Infrastructure Systems Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Sakai-shi, Osaka; Sumio Asano, President; hereinafter “IIS”), a subsidiary of IHI Corporation (headquartered in Koto-ku, Tokyo; Kazuaki Kama, President & CEO; hereinafter “IHI”), it has signed an EPC contract for İzmit Bay Bridge construction work with NOMAYG JV, a consortium consisting of six companies including Nurol İnşaat ve Ticaret A.Ş., other Turkish construction companies, and Astaldi S.p.A. of Italy. The amount of the EPC contract for the IIS-ITOCHU consortium is approximately US $1.1 billion. ITOCHU has been cooperating on the process working to the conclusion and will help IIS implement the contract. Preparations for the construction work, including detailed engineering, will soon begin. The bridge is slated for completion in 2015.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs lent support to the IIS-ITOCHU consortium as a measure for promoting deployment of integrated infrastructure systems overseas based on the country’s New Growth Strategy. Support was also provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) and other related organizations. Such joint efforts of the government and the private sector enabled the IIS-ITOCHU consortium to win the competition for the contract against Chinese and South Korean competitors.

The İzmit Bay Bridge, which will be constructed under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project, will become one of the world’s largest suspension bridges with a total length of about 3,000 meters, connecting the northern and southern coasts of the İzmit Bay located in western Turkey, as a part of a highway between Istanbul, the Turkey’s largest city, and İzmir, the third largest city. The highway is expected to promote economic development, employment and infrastructure development in western Turkey, boosting the entire country’s economy.

In Turkey, ITOCHU established its Ankara office in 1963 and Istanbul office in 1981. Since then, ITOCHU has been engaged in import products including automobiles and textiles and projects in areas such as infrastructure and power generation in the country, which it positions as an important market. ITOCHU will continue to proactively operate businesses in Turkey, which is expected to achieve further economic development.

NOMAYG JV

NOMAYG JV is a joint venture of six general construction contractors (five Turkish and one Italian company).
Their shareholding ratios are as follows:
Turkish companies: Nurol İnşaat ve Ticaret A.Ş. (18.50%), Özaltın İnşaat Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş. (15.75%), Mak-Yol İnşaat Sanayi Turizm ve Ticaret A.Ş. (18.50%), Yüksel İnşaat A.Ş. (15.75%), and Göçay İnşaat Taahhüt ve Ticaret A.Ş. (15.75%)
Italian company: Astaldi S.p.A. (15.75%)

NOMAYG JV undertakes whole EPC contract to construct a 400-kilometer road, including the İzmit Bay Bridge, from Otoyol Yatırım ve İşletme A.Ş. (“OYIAS”); a BOT project implementing body comprised of the same shareholders as NOMAYG JV. NOMAYG JV sub-contracts this bridge EPC contract to the IIS-ITOCHU consortium.