Dear Stakeholders;
We are witnessing that the world economy, which has been growing slowly since the global crisis, and global trade are becoming revitalized, as we say ‘hello’ to 2018 with the problems and uncertainties that we took over from last year. It is possible to say that the developing countries are positively influenced by this cycle through increasing trade during this period when economic growth has increased primarily in United States and Europe and unemployment rates have fallen to the lowest levels since the global economic crisis.
Within this general context, our country, which could not achieve the expected growth in its economy under the influence of the difficulties, the coup attempt and terrorist incidents experienced in 2016, has delighted us with the fast and powerful growth it has exhibited in 2017. There is benefit to remind once more in 2017, when we found the opportunity to demonstrate how dynamic and productive our economy is to the entire world, that quality and sustainability as well as speed of growth are essential in order for our country to adapt to the requirements of the rapidly changing and transforming world and have an economy that is capable of competing at the global scale.
We are continuing to grow as Limak!
We have managed to demonstrate a strong performance in all lines of business and markets where we operate as Limak Group, despite the challenging conditions at macro scale in 2017. Our employment reached approximately 66,000, while we increased our profitability as a Group. Limak Construction moved up by 50 ranks in the “”Top 250 International Contractors” list published by Engineering News Record (ENR) and took its place in the 85th rank. At the same time, we were also listed one of the 3 fastest growing construction companies in the world. We are committed to continue this performance also in 2018 and continue to grow in all sectors and countries where we are present.
Naturally, our active presence in many different countries and geographies, as a Turkish business group operating at global scale, also enables us to balance the uncertainties and risks in different countries and keep our general performance at a high level. Our objective is to use this advantage effectively also this year; regionally rank among the top three in our strategic sectors, which we may list as infrastructure and energy investments, cement and construction; and grow outside of Turkey with rapid investments in Africa and the Balkan Region that has re-acquired a EU perspective recently.
Recent achievements
Within this context, the Joint Venture, where our company is a partner, was awarded the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and Malkara-Çanakkale Motorway Project tender in 2017. The ground breaking ceremony of the project was held on March 18, 2017 in Lapseki, with the live connection to our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the presence of our Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and our Ministers. We plan to complete the construction of 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, which will be the longest suspension bridge of the world with a span of 2,023 meters between abutments, in 2023, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of our Republic.
As Limak Construction, we also broke ground for the Kuwait International Airport New Terminal Building in 2017, the contract of which was executed in 2016. With the project that has been initiated by a ceremony attended by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kuwait Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, we aim to complete and deliver this airport, which will be the most modern and technological buildings of the world, much earlier than the deadline within a short period like 4 years, instead of 6 years as set forth in the contract.
We completed the Blaise Diagne International Airport, which we built in Senegal, last year. This airport, which will operate at high standards, at IATA B Service quality over a land of 42,000 square meters, will have a passenger capacity of 3 million in the first phase and reach 10 million in the subsequent periods. This airport, the construction of which was started in 2016, will be operated by a Limak, Summa and Senegal State partnership for 25 years.
Another important development in 2017 has been experienced regarding the Platov International Airport project. Together with our partner Marashstroy, we have delivered this airport project, the contract for which was executed on July 17, 2015, within the foreseen period. The new airport of Rostov on Don, which is one of the cities where the 2018 World Football Cup will be organized, is established over an area of 750,000 square meters and will have an annual passenger capacity of 8 million with its construction area of 85,000 square meters.
The Kargı Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant in Beypazarı district of Ankara, with an installed power of 100 MW, have been taken into operation in 2017. Furthermore, Çetin Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant project in Siirt, which will have an installed power of 420 MW, has been taken over, while the Gürsöğüt Dam and HEPP project in Beypazarı, which will have an installed power of 57 MW, has been started.
We lead our country with our social benefit based activities.
While we continue our economic activities in our country, our regions and different geographies, we also regard our social benefit based activities as highly as our primary activities. Within this context, our activities continue under the roof of Limak Foundation that we established in 2016. With the Engineer Girls of Turkey project, which has evolved into a brand in our country and has completed its third year, we embrace and lead this field in our country. As of the end of 2017, we are offering versatile support to more than 100 students in 30 universities and enhancing their abilities with Engineer Girls of Turkey project, which is aimed to attract students to study science, technology and mathematics, and primarily engineering and ensure that they enjoy learning starting from early ages, to arouse interest in these fields with applications for daily use while increasing awareness on global education and science basically, and to encourage our youth, and especially our girls to consider these fields in their choices as aimed for the future. We currently have 145 volunteer mentors in our mentor pool. In the meantime, in our high-school program, we carry out activities that are sensitive to gender equality in choice of profession and promote the engineering profession for high-school students, teachers and parents. Within this context, we aim to reach more than 20,000 high-school students with the training of educators program and applications that we will organize in 10 provinces.
We continue to embrace engineering education and lead in this area not only in our country, but also abroad. Within this context, we signed a protocol with Kuwait University in order to implement the Engineer Girls of Turkey that we carry out in Turkey as led by Limak Foundation and in collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), also in Kuwait. We hope that the Kuwait’s Engineer Girls Project will yield its first graduates in March 2018.
We are exhibiting a comprehensive approach with our activities in this field at elementary school level, with the “Junior Engineers of Home” project. We have accessed almost 1,000 junior engineers so far with this project.
Another one of our biggest dreams came true
As Limak Foundation, our objective is to lead in our country in the field of art as well as our activities in the field of education. Therefore, we established the Limak Philharmonic Orchestra last year and were able to make another dream come true. Our Philharmonic Orchestra brought music lovers with Zeki Müren, the giant name in Turkish Classical Music, and his unforgettable songs on the 20th anniversary of his departure in the first music journey it made in Anatolia. Our quest to do the better and the one that has not been done before will continue with our Philharmonic Orchestra in the field of art.
Nihat Özdemir
Board of Directors Honorary Chairman
Sezai Bacaksız
Board of Directors Honorary Vice Chairman