Negotiations to determine a partner with Russia's Rosatom for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu, between Cengiz Holding and Russia are likely to continue until the beginning of 2017, head of Cengiz Holding said on Friday.
Coupled with the dire situation of the Russian economy due to low oil prices, the Akkuyu nuclear company decided to sell 49 percent of its company's shares in Turkey in April.
Turkish construction firm Cengiz announced they were in talks with Russia's state atomic energy company, Rosatom, who is responsible for building the nuclear plant, to buy these shares.
Cengiz Holding plans to build the marine hydro-technical structure for the Akkuyu plant.
"The Russian side needs a partner in Turkey. They offered me a partnership, but we are still negotiating. This is not work that we can handle alone, so we may advance with several other Turkish companies. Once we agree with the Russian side, there are a number of Turkish companies who are eager to be involved in the work. I think that this process will reach a conclusion by the beginning of the new year," Mehmet Cengiz, chairman of Cengiz Holding, told Anadolu Agency.
He said that the number of shares needed for the partnership still remains unclear, however, he asserted that the Cengiz Holding group should have a presence on the board of directors of the company.
Relations between Turkey and Russia have been severely damaged when two Turkish F-16 fighter jets on an aerial patrol shot down a Russian warplane late November. After a nine-month hiatus in relations, both countries decided to reconcile and relations improved.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visied Istanbul to participate in the World Energy Congress which was held between Oct. 9 and 13. While there, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin met and an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream natural gas project was signed between the two countries on Oct. 10.
Erdogan said in the press conference, after the signing, that any delay to the Akkuyu nuclear plant would be compensated.
The agreement for the Akkuyu nuclear plant was signed in 2010. The plant plans to have 4,800 megawatts of capacity in four units. The plant is expected to be operational by 2023.
(Anadolu Agency)
