Market brief
Turkey
The authorities that procure water infrastructure in Turkey, how the deals are put together, and what is in the pipeline.
Reference profile for TurkeyOverview
Turkey’s water market is public and largely domestic. State Hydraulic Works plans and builds dams, irrigation and bulk transfers through contractors, the metropolitan water and sewerage administrations run city systems and let treatment plants, and İller Bankası lends to and builds for municipalities.1 2 3 The register tracks 24 schemes, US$ 7.8 bn of their disclosed value in projects not yet operating,4 and only one build-operate-transfer concession is on record, the Birecik hydropower plant. Domestic preference decides whether a foreign firm can bid: below the threshold an authority may restrict a tender to domestic bidders, and works tenders may give them a price advantage of up to 15%.5 The way in is development-bank finance, which carries its own procurement rules, as with EBRD and Islamic Development Bank loans implemented through İller Bankası in 2025 and 2026.5 6 7 Water-loss targets for municipalities are one driver of network spending.8
Market snapshot
The commercial picture in Turkey: the scale of the economy and the water sector, the investment climate, and where the near-term activity is concentrated.
Political stability
World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators score, 0–100 (absolute scale), 2025. Political stability; higher is more stable.9
Investment climate
World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators score, 0–100 (absolute scale), 2025. Regulatory quality for private investment; higher is better.9
Key institutions
- Ministry of Agriculture & ForestryMinistry
- DSİ (State Hydraulic Works)General directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
- Municipal water & sewerage administrations (İSKİ, ASKİ, İZSU)Utility
Financing & PPP
- PPP frameworkBOT law in force (Law 3996), with one hydropower BOT on record (Birecik, 1995–2016)
- Tracked projectsUS$ 10.8 bn disclosed value in our projects register, of which US$ 7.8 bn pipeline (not yet operating)
- Active fundersWorld Bank, EBRD, Islamic Development Bank, AIIB. Municipal loans are channelled through İller Bankası
- Climate adaptation planNo NAP submitted; national adaptation strategy (2024–2030)
Opportunities
- 01Irrigation modernisation (GAP region)
- 02Municipal wastewater & reuse
- 03Hydropower & storage
- 04Digital basin management
Key challenges
- 01Upstream position on Euphrates–Tigris (regional diplomacy)
- 02Basin-level scarcity in the Konya closed basin and the south-east
- 03Rapid urban demand
- 04Agricultural efficiency
Sources and notes
Sources: Water use by sector, total water withdrawal, supply by source, desalination and reuse shares: FAO AQUASTAT, 2022, FAO AQUASTAT Dissemination System, retrieved 7 October 2026. Population and GDP: World Bank WDI, latest year (shown on each tile). Other figures: FAO AQUASTAT / national reports, latest available, approximate. Governance indicators: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (2025).
Contracting authorities
The bodies that commission, regulate and operate water infrastructure in Turkey. In Turkey the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and its State Hydraulic Works plan and build bulk water works;1 the metropolitan water and sewerage administrations run city systems and issue their own tariff schedules;2 and İller Bankası lends to and builds for municipalities.3
- Ministry of Agriculture & ForestryMinistry
- Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation & Climate ChangeMinistry
- Municipal Water & Sewerage Administrations (İSKİ, ASKİ, İZSU…)Utility
- General Directorate of Water ManagementBasin & resources authority
- General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSİ)Irrigation & drainage
- İller Bankası (Ilbank)Infrastructure delivery
How deals are structured
The framework in Turkey is BOT law in force (Law 3996), with one hydropower BOT on record (Birecik, 1995–2016), the schemes we track carry US$ 10.8 bn of disclosed value, US$ 7.8 bn of it in projects not yet operating, and the funders active in the sector include World Bank, EBRD, Islamic Development Bank, AIIB (municipal loans are channelled through İller Bankası).
In Turkey, dams, irrigation and bulk transfers in the register are State Hydraulic Works projects let to contractors, with one hydropower build-operate-transfer concession on record (Birecik, 1995 to 2016); the metropolitan utilities have let wastewater plants as turnkey or EPC contracts, some with an operating period of about five years (Ambarlı, Ataköy). The Finance & Economics hub sets out each model and where it has been used.
The projects register gives a partial view. Of the 24 tracked schemes in Turkey, 1 names a concession or independent-producer structure in the finance note; the rest record only where the money came from, which is not the same as saying they were not concessions.
How to bid
In Türkiye the rule that decides whether a foreign firm can bid at all is Article 63 of the public procurement law: below the threshold value an authority may restrict a tender to domestic bidders, and works and service tenders may give domestic bidders a price advantage of up to 15%.5 For the year from 1 February 2026 the works threshold is TRY 686,924,429, uprated by the December 2025 producer price change of 27.67%.10
| Procuring bodies | The State Hydraulic Works for dams, conveyance, irrigation, groundwater and flood works, through its regional directorates; the metropolitan water and sewerage administrations for distribution, treatment and networks; and the municipalities’ bank as lender and implementing agency for internationally financed schemes.1 6 7 |
|---|---|
| Route | Three procedures under the procurement law: open tender, restricted tender after pre-qualification, and negotiated procedure. Concessions run under the 1994 build-operate-transfer law.5 11 |
| The way in for a foreign bidder | Article 3(c) exempts works under external financing agreements that set their own rules, so contracts funded by the development banks run on the lender’s procurement rules rather than on the domestic-preference regime.5 |
| Bonds and complaints | A bid bond of at least 3% of the bid price, as cash, government securities or a letter of guarantee, including a letter issued by a bank in Türkiye against a foreign bank’s counter-guarantee. Complaints go to the contracting authority within five or ten days, depending on the procedure, before signature, and then to the Public Procurement Authority.5 |
| Concession terms | A build-operate-transfer concession is expressly subject to private law, runs to a maximum of 49 years, and covers dams, irrigation, drinking water, treatment and sewerage. The law authorises guarantees for payment obligations owed by public bodies to the project company and allows the contract to include a late-payment interest clause.11 |
| Loss obligation | The water-loss regulation, as amended in 2019, sets calendar-year targets rather than rolling deadlines: metropolitan and provincial municipalities to 30% by 2023 and 25% by 2028, others to 35%, 30% and 25% by 2023, 2028 and 2033.8 The National Water Plan 2026–2035 now targets drinking-water losses of 25% by 2030.12 The obligation is one driver of municipal network spending. |
| Tax | Withholding on progress payments for construction spanning more than one calendar year is 5%, cut to 1% for rail and shipbuilding by a presidential decision of March 2025.13 14 |
Two dated transactions show where the money comes from: a EUR 42 million sovereign loan from EBRD in February 2026 for a 75,000 cubic metre a day treatment plant at Osmaniye with anaerobic digestion and biogas recovery, and EUR 200 million signed with the Islamic Development Bank in July 2025 for municipal infrastructure, both implemented through the municipalities’ bank.6 7 The National Water Plan for 2026 to 2035 was approved by Presidential Decision 11063 and gazetted on 14 March 2026.12
Regulatory intelligence
| Regulation | Status | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Water Plan 2026–2035 | Adopted | 2026 | Loss, per-capita use and irrigation efficiency targets to 2050. |
| National Drought Management Strategy | Adopted | 2017 | Basin drought management plans. |
| Groundwater law | In force | 1960 | DSİ explores, allocates and registers groundwater; Konya's wells the test case. |
| 1987 Euphrates protocol | Interim, in force | 1987 | Yearly average of more than 500 m³/s at the Syrian border. |
| Iraq water framework and financing mechanism | In implementation | 2024/2025 | Turkish-built projects in Iraq paid through Iraqi oil. |
Primary reference: DSİ; transboundary practice is seasonal and politically sensitive.
Projects
Tracked schemes in Turkey, largest first. Each has its own page with the parties, the finance and a dated history.
Sources and notes
Interactive map: switch views, hover or focus a marker, and use the +/− controls (or double-click, then drag) to zoom and pan. Geometry and data from the MENA Water Review library.
24 tracked in total. The full set, filterable, is in the major projects register.
Track record
Contracts on record in Turkey, from the awards log and the major projects register, dated by commissioning where known.
Disclosed value by year
US$ bn of tracked awards in Turkey carrying a published value
5 further awards in this sector have no value recorded in our register and are not in the chart.
| Year | Project | Winning firms | US$ m |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Melen Dam completion works | Limak contractor | 367 |
| under construction | Cizre Dam and Hydroelectric Plant | CB Elektrik Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S developer | n/a |
| 2020 on line | Ilısu Dam and Hydroelectric Plant | Nurol Insaat, Cengiz Insaat contractor | n/a |
| under construction | Yenikapı Wastewater Treatment Plant | Fisia Italimpianti, Alkatas, Alke contractor | 67 |
| 2016 | Ataköy Wastewater Treatment Plant extension | Fisia Italimpianti contractor | 93 |
| 2012 on line | Ambarlı Wastewater Treatment Plant | PWT Wasser- und Abwassertechnik contractor | 152 |
| 2010 on line | Ataköy Wastewater Treatment Plant | WTE Wassertechnik contractor | n/a |
| 2010 on line | Tuzla Wastewater Treatment Plant (second stage) | Kuzu Grup contractor | n/a |
| 2009 on line | Paşaköy Wastewater Treatment Plant (second stage) | Kuzu Grup contractor | n/a |
| 2001 on line | Birecik Dam and Hydroelectric Plant | Philipp Holzmann, Strabag, GAMA developer | 1,090 |
| 1999 on line | Karkamış Dam and Hydroelectric Plant | Yuksel Insaat, Temelsu contractor | 176 |
| 1992 on line | Atatürk Dam and Hydroelectric Plant | ATA Insaat contractor | 1,250 |
Sources and notes
Years without a label are award years from the curated log; rows marked on line are dated by commissioning, from the projects register. Register rows without a commissioning date show their stage instead: awarded, with the year recorded, or under construction or operating, with no year. 12 rows in total for Turkey.
Repeat winners
- Fisia Italimpianti2 tracked awards, as contractor
- Kuzu Grup2 tracked awards, as contractor
Pipeline & tenders
Structured procurements and live tenders in Turkey, drawn from the same review that maintains the pipeline tracker.
Pipeline & awards
Tenders
Prices
What households pay
| Household tariff (US$/m³) | Cost of supply (US$/m³) | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~$1.34 | not published | January 2026 | İSKİ, 2026 monthly water and wastewater unit prices (schedule of 5 January 2026) and 2025 monthly schedule |
Istanbul’s first residential block (0–15 m³ a month) was TRY 35.26/m³ for water and TRY 17.62 for wastewater, TRY 52.88/m³ in all excluding VAT, on İSKİ’s schedule of 5 January 2026. Rates are indexed monthly: in 2025 the water rate rose from TRY 25.28 in January to TRY 34.97 in December. Residential bands are 0–15, 16–30 and 31 m³ a month and above. Of every 2.5 m³ consumed, 0.5 m³ goes unbilled up to the first 15 m³. The dollar figure covers water and wastewater, converted at TRY 39.45 per US$ (World Bank official exchange rate, 2025 average), and moves sharply with the lira.
Residential tariffs, and the cost of supply where a utility publishes it, are kept in one place for the whole region so the comparison holds: a tariff means little without the cost it is measured against.
Watch list
No dated items have been carried forward for Turkey yet. This section fills from the monthly briefings as they are published.
Sources
14 references
Project, pipeline and tender records are compiled from procurer announcements, lender disclosures and trade reporting; each project page carries its own source and the date it was last checked. Institutions are from the decision-maker directory. Economic and water indicators are cited on the reference profile.
- State Hydraulic Works, departments and regional directorates.
- İSKİ, 2026 monthly water and wastewater unit prices (schedule of 5 January 2026, in Turkish).
- İller Bankası, Water and Sewerage Infrastructure Project (SUKAP).
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
- Public Procurement Law No. 4734 (Türkiye), consolidated official text.
- EBRD, support for critical infrastructure in Turkish cities, 20 February 2026.
- Islamic Development Bank, EUR 200 million municipal infrastructure financing, 2 July 2025.
- Regulation on the control of water losses in drinking water supply and distribution systems, consolidated text as amended in 2019.
- Kaufmann & Kraay, Worldwide Governance Indicators (World Bank), 2025 update: political-stability and regulatory-quality scores, 0–100, shown in the market snapshot. worldbank.org/wgi.
- Public Procurement Authority communiqué 2026/1, Resmî Gazete of 22 January 2026, for the threshold values.
- Law No. 3996 on build-operate-transfer (Türkiye), consolidated official text.
- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, announcement of the National Water Plan 2026–2035.
- PwC Türkiye, on the withholding rate for multi-year construction progress payments, 2 April 2025.
- Andersen Türkiye, circular 2025/18 on withholding for multi-year construction work (Presidential Decision 9707 of 29 March 2025, in force 1 April 2025).
Numbered references are linked from the superscript markers in the text. Figures without a marker come from the sources above as compiled in the site methodology.
Sources and notes
Firms appearing on two or more tracked awards in Turkey. For a PPP, BOT, BOO or independent water, power or sewage project the winner counted is the developer or sponsor consortium; for an EPC or works contract it is the contractor. Each consortium member is counted on its own. EPC contractors working for a developer, subcontractors and equipment suppliers are not counted, and a PPP whose developer is not recorded counts for no firm.