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A Turkish - Korean team formed by SK Engineering & Construction Co. (SK E&C), Daelim Industrial Co. and Limak and Yapi Merkezi has been selected as preferred bidder to develop the 1915 Canakkale Suspension Bridge PPP, which is part of the Kinali-Tekirdag-Canakkale-Savastepe Highway on BOT. 

Other three consortia presented bids for the project. These were, namely:

• IHI (Japan) - Itochu (Japan) - Join (Japan)-Makyol (Turkey)-Nurol (Turkey) - Japon Express Way (Japan) 
• Cengiz (Turkey) - Kolin (Turkey) - CRBC (China) 
• IC İçtaş (Turkey) - Astaldi (Italia) 

The project has a total investment of KRW3.5 billion (US$3 billion)  and involves the construction of  a 3.7-km suspension bridge as part of the Malkara-Çanakkale section of the Kinali-Tekirdag-Çanakkale-Savastepe highway. The 1915 Çanakkale Suspension Bridge  will be one of the longest suspension bridges in the world by length of central span. According to sources, the toll fee for the bridge will be 15 euros plus value added tax.  

SK and Daelim will be in charge of operation and maintenance (O&M) of the bridge for 16 years and 2 months after construction.

The Kinali-Tekirdag-Canakkale-Savastepe Highway will connect Istanbul with the Aegean province of Balikesir through a bridge over Çanakkale. The highway willl have a total lenght of 324 km, excluding the bridge and will be built under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. 

Construction of the 1915 Canakkale Suspension Bridge is expected to start on March 18, 2017.