Turkey is studying whether to grant private companies the operating rights to some highways and bridges for fixed periods of time to reduce pressure on the state budget, the Dünya news website reported on Friday, citing Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
Speaking to reporters at a Ramadan fast-breaking event, Uraloğlu said the government was not planning to sell the assets themselves but was examining whether operating rights could be transferred for certain periods so private operators would take on heavy maintenance costs.
“Highways and bridges are not being sold,” Dünya quoted him as saying. He said the government would decide after comparing the expected maintenance spending with the revenue such a transfer could generate.
Uraloğlu said some major roads and bridges have reached a stage where they require heavy maintenance, creating a growing cost burden for the state.
Reuters later reported the remarks, saying Ankara was considering selling operating rights to ease budget pressures while stressing that no final decision had been made and that Uraloğlu did not name any specific roads or bridges that could be included.
The issue had surfaced before. In September 2025 Turkey’s Presidential Directorate of Communications said reports claiming that bridges and highways were being “sold” were misleading. It said the assets would remain public property and that what was under discussion was the transfer of operating and maintenance rights for a limited period of time.
That statement also linked the plan to the government’s Medium Term Program, which sets revenue targets from privatization and similar transactions.
The debate gained attention again after reports said Ankara was studying a package that could include some state-owned toll roads and Bosporus bridges in İstanbul, the city that straddles Europe and Asia and is home to two of Turkey’s best known suspension bridges.
Turkey has explored similar plans in the past. In 2013 the government canceled a $5.7 billion tender for the privatization of toll roads and Bosporus bridges after deciding the bid was too low.
The latest remarks suggest Ankara is returning to a model it has previously examined: keeping ownership in state hands while shifting operating and maintenance costs to private companies in return for the right to collect revenue for a set period of time.