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Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held plenty of grand opening ceremonies in his 15 years at Turkey's helm.
On Monday (Tuesday NZT) the Turkish president will unveil one of his prized jewels – Istanbul New Airport – a megaproject that has been dogged by concerns about labor rights, environmental issues and Turkey's weakening economy.
Erdogan is opening up the world's largest transport hub on the 95th anniversary of Turkey's establishment as a republic. It's a symbolic launch, and it will take place until the end of the year.
EMRAH GUREL / AP
Once completed the airport will serve up to 200 million travelers a year with six runways.
Tens of thousands of workers have been scrambling to meet the airport Erdogan's deadline. Protests in the face of poor working conditions and dozens of construction fatalities have highlighted the human cost of the project.
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Istanbul New Airport, on the shores of the Black Sea, will serve 90 million passengers annually in its first phase. At its completion in ten years, it will occupy nearly 19,000 acres (7689 hectares) and serve up to 200 million travelers a year with six runways. That's almost double the traffic at world's biggest airport currently, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.
EMRAH GUREL / AP
The tulip-shaped air traffic control tower wins the 2016 International Architecture Award.
"This airport is going to be the most important hub between Asia and Europe," Kadri Samsunlu, head of the 5-company Istanbul Grand Airport consortium, told Thursday reporters.
The airport's interiors nod to Turkish and Islamic designs and its tulip-shaped air traffic control tower won the 2016 International Architecture Award. It also uses mobile applications and artificial intelligence for customers. It is energy efficient and boasts a high-tech security system.
All aviation operations will be moving there at the end of December when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is closed down. Ataturk Airport now handles 64 million people a year. On the Asian side of the city, Sabiha Gokcen Airport handled 31 million passengers last year. It will remain open.
EMRAH GUREL / AP
The massive project has been controversial over workers' rights and environmental concerns.
Erdogan is expected to announce the official name of the new airport, part of his plan to transform Turkey into a global player.
Turkish Airlines will launch its local destinations: Ankara, Antalya and Izmir. It will also fly to Baku and Ercan in northern Cyprus.
Nihat Demir, head of a construction workers' union, said the rush to meet Erdogan's deadline has been a major cause of accidents and deaths at the site that employs 36,000 people.
EMRAH GUREL / AP
The airport will have 143 boarding bridges across 77 gates.
"The airport has become a cemetery," he told The Associated Press, describing the pressure to the end of the life and working hours of the carelessness, accidents and deaths.
The Dev-Yapi-Is union has identified 37 worker deaths at the site and claimed more than 100 dead remain unidentified.
Turkey's Ministry of Labor has reportedly been reporting losses, saying in February that 27 workers had died at the site due to "health problems and traffic accidents". It has not commented since then.
EMRAH GUREL / AP
The first phase of the airport is scheduled to be inaugurated on Monday (Tuesday NZT).
Airport workers in September began working against poor working conditions, including unpaid wages, bedbugs, unsafe food and inadequate transportation to the site. Security forces rounded up hundreds of workers and nearly 30, among the union leaders. The company said it was working to improve conditions.
Megaprojects in northern Istanbul Istanbul, the third bridge connecting Istanbul's Asian and European shores and Erdogan's yet-to-start plans for a parallel channel to the Bosporus are also impacting the environment. The environmental group Northern Forests Defense said the new airport has destroyed forests, wetlands and coastal sand dunes and threatens biodiversity.
These projects are in Istanbul, where more than 15 million people live. Samsunlu, the airport executive, said "airport city" for innovation and technology would also be built.
The five Turkish companies that won the US $ 29 billion tender in 2013 under the "build-operate-transfer" model has been financing the project through capital and bank loans. IGA will operate the airport for 25 years.
Financial observers say a lot of growth and growth in construction growth, leaving the private sector with a huge US $ 200 billion debt. With inflation and unemployment in Turkey at the end of the year, Turkey is clearly facing an economic downturn.
Despite those dark financial clouds, the airport consortium hopes the world will grow trillions of dollars.
"Istanbul New Airport will remain ambitious for growth and we will carry on the challenge to be the biggest and the best." That's our motto, "Samsunlu said.
