Signed Construction Contract for Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge, Turkey

- September 9, 2011-

IIS signed a construction contract for the Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge with the entity NOMAYG JV that comprises six companies including Turkish constructors such as Nurol, a leading general contractor in Turkey, and Astaldi from Italy. The contract amount for the consortium of IIS and ITOCHU Corporation is about $1.1 billion. IIS plans to handle the design, manufacture, and partial construction of the superstructure and substructure of the suspension bridge element of the Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge on a full turnkey basis. We will now start preparing for construction, mainly the detailed design, which is planned for completion in 2015.

This project is part of overseas infrastructure development based on Japan's New Growth Strategy. It is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and received cooperation from related organizations such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). This venture between the government and the private sector, including our parent company, IHI Corporation, was successful and overcame the competition from Chinese and Korean companies.

The Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge will be constructed using the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) method. It is part of the highway project connecting Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, and Izmir, the third largest city. The constructed bridge will be one of the world's leading suspension bridges totaling about 3,000 m in length that connects the north and south of Izmit Bay in the west of Turkey. Construction of this highway is expected to promote economic progress and employment as well as infrastructure development in western Turkey, the area that drives the Turkish economy.

IHI has an extensive construction record in Turkey, including construction of the old and new Golden Horn Bridges (steel Girder Bridge s), construction of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge (Second Bosphorus Bridge, suspension bridge), and the seismic reinforcement of 15 suspension bridges in Istanbul, including the First and Second Bosphorus Bridges. The company has greatly contributed to the improvement of road transport infrastructure in Turkey.

We also have a track record of bridge and road construction outside of Turkey, including the Irtysh River Bridge (suspension bridge) in Kazakhstan that was completed by our company alone on a full turnkey basis. Another of our recent overseas bridge construction projects is the production, transportation, and erection of the superstructure of the Binh Bridge (cable-stayed bridge) in Vietnam. It received high praise for quality and safety from the client, the Hai Phong People's Committee in Vietnam.

After construction of a cable-stayed bridge with six spans, the Vietnam–Japan Friendship Bridge (Nhat Tan Bridge), in Vietnam that was ordered two years ago, IHI and IIS won the contract for the Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge which provides the opportunity to once again show off our achievements and high level of technical expertise to the world. We will continue to actively develop our overseas bridge ordering activities in the future.

Conceptional drawing of completed bridge