Plus Haber Magazine interview / July 2013

BORA CAN YILDIZ, 
THE VICE PRESIDENT OF EID CONSTRUCTION:

“THE TURKISH PEOPLE AND IRAQI PEOPLE 
GREETS THE SAME”

The Turkish companies have been making the best use of the opportunities in the neighboring countries and Middle East. For example, the infrastructure, port, motorway, pipeline, petroleum and gas infrastructure works to be carried out in Iraq are worth more than $ 1 trillion right now! One of the Turkish companies closely following the opportunities in the neighboring countries is EID Construction…

Bora Can Yıldız, the Vice Chairman of the Board of EID Construction running important commitment projects in Iraq says that Iraq is a country open to complete restructuring. Bora Can Yıldız underlines that they were in Iraq in old times when nobody was going there, even when people were being kidnapped.

Bora Can Yıldız, the Vice Chairman of the Board of EID Construction says: “Keeping our promises, we earned the trust of people with our operations in Iraq. As I always say, we have two important capitals; the first one is the trust of people, and the second one is our personnel. Right now, we are engaged in the construction of four hospitals as well as a hotel there. We were working on an airport project, and we completed it. We are in the construction phase of various dwellings and business centers.  We also have construction projects to take a start soon such as industrial facilities, petroleum tanks and pipelines”.

Could you tell us about the general structure and field of activity of EID Construction?

Construction is a family legacy… We as EID Construction penetrated into the market of the Middle East. We started enterprises in many regions such as Jordan, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Kazakhstan. Thereafter, we met the market in Iraq and then we set the Southern region as our target there. We started to operate in the Southern region approximately 3,5 years ago. We assumed two medium scale projects in Basra region, which has been a trial for us. We believed in the future of this region, we made a great deal of investment in there, we suffered from great losses in the first operations since we did not have the knowledge of dynamics there; however, we considered our losses to be our investment. We made a lot of investment in the people there, we created employment opportunities. When you provide employment, you gain the sympathy of the local politicians and local leaders there. Although we, as the young entrepreneurs, have great opportunities in Turkey, we also gained the sympathy of the people in that region when we kept our promises by being there, providing employment and source of income for them despite of our losses. Today, we have a serious business volume. Through our international connections, the American government offered us a job, they asked us to build an airport there, and we completed this airport in record time, in 11 months exactly. Of course, this drew attention in that region; thereafter we started the construction of three private hospitals, and awarded the contract of a state hospital as well. We were also engaged in a hotel construction, which we are delivering now. We had some contacts with the petroleum companies during that process. The American, European and Russian petroleum companies have great investments there; we started to assume projects from them. We have ongoing projects having serious potential with them at the moment. Especially our operations regarding petroleum pipelines, petroleum tanks and industrial facilities are in progress. Right now, we have more than 500 Turkish employees there; we are of the opinion that this number will be doubled by the end of the year. We are employing as much Iraqi people as we can, and we are trying to train them. Unfortunately, we have seen many adventurous companies in time that arrived there due to being incapable of holding a job in Turkey and driven by the ambition to make money. Thank God, they have been eliminated. Although such companies seem to abuse their trust in Turkish people in certain projects, they still have faith in us since the powerful companies are still standing there. Those people came to Turkey, and saw the projects we run. We have always been on the site, carried out our operations on the site, even in the desert at a temperature of 55^o under the sun, and somehow we achieved to earn their trust, and reached this potential. 

What do you think about what lies behind your power in the field of commitment?

First of all, we are out there, right on the site. Our tower cranes, concrete pumps, mobilization, diggers, excavators, cranes are on the site in front of the people where they are operated. When we started our other medium scale projects, we learned our lessons by taking risks in the fields of transportation, logistics, safety etc. We paid what we had to pay, for this reason, we improved ourselves quite faster. Second of all, we have never ashamed of our operations, we have always kept our promises. Even when we went into the red, we did not broke our word; sometimes we shared our losses with the employers, sometimes they compensated, sometimes they could not, but we completed our projects anyway, even with our own support. Leaving projects unfinished is awful; it is a bad image even if the reason why it is unfinished is that your employer did not pay you. Unfinished constructions cause distrust. Sometimes we even financed some projects that we took from the trusted local people. They paid their debts in a very long term; there are customers still paying us. We were understanding, and created employment for the people, which led a great sympathy there. Those people deserve good service, and we really approach them with this objective. I morally and spiritually as well as conscientiously think that those people deserve real service. The more you are there, the greater you are.

As EID Construction, what is your business volume in that region?

Right now, our business volume in that region is around $ 300 million; however, we aim higher.

What do you think about the relations between Turkey and Iraq?

There is a political tension between Turkey and Iraq; however, this tension is getting better day by day. There are harsh and intemperate statements between two governments. This tension affected the Turkish companies negatively; it had a bad influence on the companies which were not in the region; however, participated in the tenders. Because we are aware of the fact that unofficial orders were given to certain ministries not to award projects over a certain amount to the Turkish people. However, considering the companies serving on the site, if the local authorities do not award the projects to the Turkish people, then whom they are going to award these projects? A Spanish or Italian citizen cannot carry out the works on the site, especially in the inner city. A European citizen would be under a great risk in the downtown, a European company cannot build a sewer system or a hospital in the inner city, because there is a security risk, when they take the necessary precautions at their own standards, they cannot afford the relevant cost. Under these circumstances, the Turkish and Iraqi people greet the same, our religion is the same, our culture is the same, and the people love each other. When you go out there with this approach and show that your intention is good, it is not a big problem then. The Turkish companies really do a great job, this being the case, whom they are going to award the projects, they have to have Turkish people do it at some point. There is a need for the Turkish people in terms of service, the companies there can come up with a solution for this; however, it is really hard for an outsider to participate in the tenders. Our $ 70 million worth tender was cancelled at a period when the tension was really high.

Which projects you are planning to run in 2013?

We want to go on with the hospital projects in that region. We will have a hotel project as well; we are more focused on our infrastructure works as of now. We have some operations, especially in the field of industrial infrastructures and pipelines. However, we do not build cheap dwellings; we receive many offers for that; however, we do not want to go in that, because we only take projects, through which we can create a difference, and use our know-how and technology. We are trying to show our difference with the qualified works.

Are there any other countries in the Middle East which you consider to be an opportunity?

Kuwait will strike in the forthcoming years; they have just announced a package worth approximately $ 150 billion for redevelopment. There is going to be a great breakthrough in Kuwait. For Saudi Arabia, they say the king is trying to prevent the conflicts from spreading there by supporting the people and building dwellings for them. There are great packages for this as well. If Libya can overcome the domestic turbulences, it will make a great market. Markets such as the markets of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are really big. We also think about spreading on other countries. We are still in the search, we keep negotiating, and I think some of them will be concluded in a few days.

What would you say about Turkey’s vision for 2023?

I truly support the vision for 2023, because there was a prejudice against the Turkish people, which they could see when they were in America or England, and Turkish people used to feel lowly in the presence of Americans or Europeans. However, I had been to both America and Europe to conduct business there, we had even been there to sell technology. Then, when I went to the Middle East, I noticed that Turkey was a natural leader in that region, everyone was considering Istanbul to be the capital city. They consider Turkey as their big brother. I want Turkey to act like a brother with a logic based on Turkish-Islam union, and offer service leadership to those people. Turkey has a mission. We live in a very modern country; our education is quite modern; preserving our spiritual values, we have to share that vision with those people, and be there for them as their brother. When it is achieved, a huge power can arise from the unity of four or five countries. Thereby I do not mean military power; on the contrary, I mean the harmony between people, a common cause to be made with other people, and rendering services to those people. With such an approach, I believe that Turkey will rapidly grow and make further progresses.