Tuesday, 30 December 2008Sabancı Holding CEO Ahmet Dördüncü has said a secure energy supply would only be possible with strong political determination to advance structural reforms that will in the end strengthen competition and investment opportunities.
Once the government succeeds in establishing such an environment, the private sector will flood the energy sector with investment, he added.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference held in İstanbul to announce the Turkey section of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Report, Dördüncü stated that the liberalization of the sector and the presence of a competitive environment together carry utmost importance both domestically and internationally.
With all these necessities, however, the steps to be taken for a secure energy supply have not been taken appropriately, he claimed.
Underlining that Turkey's growth rate projections for this year and for 2009 point to slow progress, if not recession, the CEO of Turkey's second-largest industrial conglomerate said this situation will have repercussions on the energy business, too. In addition, the scarcity of liquidity to transfer to investments on the global scale and the slowdown of the economy are other obstacles in the way of new investment in Turkey's energy sector. However, he asserted, once the economy returns to its positive track and things turn around, the energy demand will drastically rise and investment will increase again to match this demand with improved conditions for investment.
Dördüncü noted that estimates foresee energy consumption in Turkey increasing by more than the world average until 2020. He also cited capacity projections prepared by the Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEİAŞ) which state that the country will have no spare capacity in energy generation by 2013. "This clearly indicates the obligation of accelerating energy investments in the coming period. In line with this, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry is proposing increasing the current electricity generation capacity by 150 percent by 2020."
Considering the urgent need for new investments, the state has to act swiftly to create a proper investment climate in Turkey, he said. In that sense, establishing a liberal energy market is important for the Turkish business world and for Turkey itself in its EU membership negotiation process. Recalling that Turkey is an energy importing country, the CEO spoke highly of the government's recent steps to diversify energy supplies. |
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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