| In terms of forecast investment, Turkey is the fourth-largest electricity market in the world behind China, India and Brazil. Between 1970 and 1997 primary energy production nearly doubled but consumption quadrupled. According to Citibank the government plans to add 40,000MW of capacity by 2010, of which at least 25% will be generated in gas-powered plants. Traditionally, energy investments in Turkey, like all infrastructure projects, have been a state monopoly. Since 1984 the country has been in the throes of opening up infrastructure investments to foreign and domestic private investors. "The implementation of this has been subject to bureaucratic impediment and continuing legal challenge," says David Tonge, chairman of Istanbul-based research house IBS and an expert on the Turkish power sector. "But step by step, private-sector power generation has become a reality." The share of the private sector, which provides around 13% of power generation, is due to increase. Operating rights to over half of existing capacity are in the process of being transferred to the private sector and a large number of new plants are in various states of development. The plan, in general terms, is to privatize power generation and distribution and to encourage foreign investment. |