Confidence Signal Given to Foreigners with a US$ 1.3 Billion Investment

İzzet Garih to whom İshak Alaton ceded the chairmanship of Alarko Holding 1.5 years before he passed away told about his plans for 2017-2018. Garih gave the following information when entering the Columbia University campus in New York:
- I visit the US 4 times a year. During two visits I do a road show to foreign investors who have bought shares from our publicly held companies and tell them about our country and our companies. And two are spent with construction management seminars given to graduate students at Columbia and Johns Hopkins universities.
He shared the messages he give to graduate students:
- I relate the overseas experiences of Turkish contractors, their success stories and their advantages.
He then drew attention to his message to foreign investors:
- I meet with investors from various parts of the US and summon them to transfer funds to and invest in Turkey.
We spoke to industrial engineering students Yasemin Erdinç, İzzet Kebudi, Saygın Yıldırım, Emre Garih (İzzet Garih's son), and biochemistry student Avital Ovadya on campus. All 5 of them agreed on a common plan following their graduation:
- Following undergraduate studies, we’ll do our master’s, work in the US and gain experience before returning to Turkey.
Even so İzzet Garih repeated his advice:
- Gain experience in the US and use your global accumulation for the benefit of our country. At this point he shared the Garih family’s point of view: -My grandfather and father were born, raised and passed away in Turkey. We have great confidence in our country.
We then talked about Alarko with İzzet Garih. He opened the energy file with electricity distribution:
- We are operating the Konya Meram Electricity Distribution Region (Konya, Karaman, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Nevşehir, Niğde) with Cengiz Holding. We won the tender in 2009 for US$ 440 million. We invested an additional US$ 300 million in 6 years. We pulled down the loss/illegal consumption rate from 9% to 6.65 %.
He pointed out that they had used a loan of US$ 300 million for the tender:
- We paid back our loan with the own activities of the distribution company in 6 years. The annual turnover of the company is US$ 700 million. We will invest US$ 330 million in the coming 5 years. In other words, we are investing US$ 60 million each year with our partner to our electricity distribution business.
Then he focused on electricity generation::
- We completed the 76 MW Karakuz Hydroelectric Power Plant in Adana for US$ 130 million and began generation power. It has become a productive power plant.
He then passed from Adana to Konya:
- We have a 50 MW solar energy investment in Konya. The 30 MW portion went into operation in 2016. It will rise to 50 MW in 2017. The investment will attain US$ 80-85 million.
He proceeded from Konya to Çanakkale:
- The first turbine of the 1320 MW Karabiga imported coal fired thermal power plant will go into operation at the end of 2017. The second turbine of the US$ 1 billion project will go into operation in March 2018.
He also quoted the investment plan to the TRNC:
- We are going to build a US$ 120 million Hillside Holiday Village in Karpaz.
He shared his US$ 1.3 billion investment plan for the period of 2017-2018 with the following message:
- No matter what they say, Turkey is an investable country…
Why say more?

Building the Kabataş-Mahmutbey Metro Line, Insisting on Kazakhstan

İzzet Garih, Chairman of the Board of ALARKO Holding Co., started to tell about their activities in the contracting sector from Istanbul:
- We are building the Kabataş-Beşiktaş-Mahmutbey metro line. In the coming period we will take part in bids for fast train, road, treatment and infrastructure projects both at home and abroad.
Then he went on to Kazakhstan:
- In Kazakhstan we completed the US$ 140 million Aktau-Manasha Road and the Bozshakol Copper Mine facilities. We are presently conducting the Taldykol Lake Treatment project in Astana. The project will be completed at US$ 275 million. Moreover, new road project tenders will come up in Kazakhstan in May-June.
He emphasized that the south of Africa, the Sub-Saharan region, is also within their area of interest:
- We received invitations for road projects from the Ivory Coast, and railroad and treatment plants from Tanzania. Top executives of our group participated in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit that included Tanzania.
He drew the boundaries of their business volume in construction-contracting activities saying:
-We do not want to have more than 5-6 or at most 7 worksites ongoing at the same time.

The Turnover of Alarko Carrier is US$ 170 Million.

İZZET Garih pointed out that production of air conditioners, combi boilers and pumps for the domestic market and exports was ongoing:
- With an annual turnover of US$ 170 million Alarko Carrier exports to 35 countries. We are aiming at increasing exports that constitute 12-13 % of our turnover to 17-18 %.
İZZET Garih reported their decision to grow in tourism and operation with the Hillside brand:
- We had leased a 400 decare area in the Karpaz region of the TRNC for 49 years. Hillside Karpaz Holiday Village will have 415 rooms. We will also build a residence. We are planning to market the residence section to Northern Europeans and the British.
We are also planning a project in İstanbul Maslak:
- We have our own land in Maslak.We are also thinking of a Hillside brand project there.
He also emphasized that some of the lands of the Group were like “aged wine”:
- We also own land in Riva. It is slowly maturing.