The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is to offer loans worth $500m to finance two Turkish engineering and energy programmes. Some $300m will go towards improving Istanbul’s earthquake resilience and $200m will finance renewable energy.
The Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project will retrofit public buildings in the country’s largest city and buy emergency equipment such as power generators and water storage tanks.
DJ Pandian, AIIB’s vice president, said: "The project is aligned with the aspirations of AIIB’s Sustainable Cities Strategy by making Istanbul’s critical public buildings greener and more resilient to seismic shocks."
The renewable energy money will be made available for private Turkish firms investing in green markets.
The AIIB estimates Turkey’s energy demand will increase 50% over the next decade, and by 2023 the initiatives will help to increase the share of renewable energy in the country’s generating mix to 50%, and reduce primary energy consumption by 14%.
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Pandian said: "AIIB’s financing will help address the need for long-term capital for infrastructure projects.
"The on-lending facility will help increase Turkey’s installed capacity of renewables-based power generation and improve energy efficiency of existing installations."
The AIIB has previously invested in five projects worth $1.4bn in Turkey.
Image: The aftermath of an earthquake in Turkey in 2011 (Sadık Güleç/Dreamstime)
