Ziraat Bank provided the largest share of the 4.5 billion euros worth financing package with 1.5 billion Euros. While Halkbank and Vakifbank did provide 1 billion Euros each, Denizbank did 500 million euros and Finansbank and Garanti Bank participated with 300 million euros each. The largest airport to be in the world, Istanbul’s new airport’s first phase will cost 6 billion euros which of its 4.5 billion to be financed by 6 banks. The initial phase is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. During his speech in the signature ceremony of the bank loan, The President of Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the continuation of the government support for the project and said: “Total investment costs amounted to 10,247 billion euros, adding that to the 22,152 billion euros plus taxes lease fee, we are facing the highest investment project in this field with 32,399 billion euros. Do you remember when we said “Crazy Projects” this is the most important one.” The airport will be built on 76 million square meters space and it will serve to an annual 150 million passengers when all of the four phases are completed. The loan will be used to complete the first phase that will have 90 million passenger capacity with 3 north-south airstrips. Cengiz-Mapa-Limak-Kolin- Kalyon jointly participated in the tender of the third Istanbul airport in May 2013 for its 25 years long operating rights. The consortium eventually won the tender with their 22,152 billion euros plus taxes bid. For this specific project, the consortium established a company called ‘IGA’ that agreed with Ziraat Bank, Halkbank, VakifBank, Denizbank, Garanti Bank and Finansbank on a 16 year loan of 4.5 billion euros. The interest rate of the loan is agreed as euribor+4.75. During his speech at the ceremony, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that the opening of Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and its link road in 2016, will complete the airport’s connection to Eurasia. Davutoglu also stated that the tender for the new metro line will be carried out in the first quarter next year. The new metro line will connect the airport to Gayrettepe.