Real Estate  

Investing in İstanbul and Zeytinburnu

Foreign investors are permitted to own two types of land in Turkey, either private or public.

Land Issues
However, private land is generally expensive and limited in supply while acquisition of public land involves sometimes a long and difficult process. The government is working on a scheme to develop land for investments and has issued The Industrial Zones Law to ease the investor's life in searching land for the investments.

The renaissance and restructuring of Istanbul requires vision, planning and investment.
Istanbul is poised to become a regional and indeed international center of tourism, finance, shopping and services and information technology.
Numerous projects are underway to improve the transportation, communication and regulatory infrastructure to support its bid to attract substantial foreign investment over the next 10-20 years.

Earthquake Readiness
Geologically, Istanbul, like most of Turkey, is at risk for earthquakes.  A campaign has started to ready and safeguard the city from earthquakes in a coordinated effort that involves the central government, local administrations, civil society organisations, universities and the private sector under the leadership of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has conducted the necessary surveys including operations maps of the city's geology and settlement feasibility and seismological data and prepared the JICA-Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Microregion and Earthquake Preparation Report and the Istanbul Master Plan for Earthquakes.

The district of Zeytinburnu was selected as a pilot-region and considerable documents have been gathered. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, by testing the Istanbul Master Plan for Earthquakes, has developed a series of operational plans that are fast and economically feasible.

The Municipality has shared the results of these operations with World Bank missions and emphasized its desire to participate in World Bank-led projects. The Municipality continues to work on this issue in order to restore, renew and strengthen the fabric of the city and thus minimize the loss of lives and property from any future earthquakes.