İbrahim Erdemoğlu, Chairman of Erdemoğlu Holding, sent the 'Presidential Decree' published in the Official Gazette at 00:18 on Friday night:

It has been decided to declare the area located in the Yumurtalık district of Adana province, with boundaries shown on the attached map as 'SASA Polyester Anonim Şirketi Yumurtalık Special Industrial Zone', in accordance with Article 4/Ç of Law No. 4737 on Industrial Zones.

After reading the decree published upon the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, I asked:
- Has this decision created the necessary environment to initiate investment? Is there any other step you are waiting for?

İbrahim Erdemoğlu responded:
- Not at the moment. Details will be handled with the Ministry of Industry and Technology.

With the recent decision on the "Special Industrial Zone," I wanted to remind once again of the story regarding the massive investment that Erdemoğlu Holding has been discussing for SASA since 2017.

It was June 2017... While speaking at an iftar held at Huber Mansion in Istanbul for the owners, executives, writers, and producers of media groups, President Erdoğan mentioned, without naming anyone, the difficulties faced by an investor he had learned about that day:

- Today, a citizen came to meet with me. He has purchased a factory. He said he would invest 3.5 billion dollars and let me inaugurate it.

After the iftar, with a couple of text messages, I learned that this businessman was İbrahim Erdemoğlu. I immediately called him and got the details through their statements to KAP.

We had announced to KAP that we plan to invest 3.6 billion dollars to produce the primary raw material of SASA. Our negotiations with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy regarding the purchase, lease, or allocation of the 2.9 million square meter land owned by TPAO in Hatay Dörtyol are ongoing.

Erdemoğlu refreshed the next part of the story by adding new information during our conversation at the SASA facilities in Adana at the beginning of last December:

While we were continuing negotiations regarding the land in Dörtyol, the allocation period for the area allotted for pipeline use by Çalık Holding in Yumurtalık expired. We applied for that area. After we applied, the Wealth Fund also intended to invest similarly in the same area.

- Three and a half years ago, Mr. President has given instructions to initiate the allocation process for the land in Yumurtalık. We met with Mr. Mustafa Varank, the then Minister of Industry and Technology, Mr. Mehmet Muş, Minister of Trade, and Mr. Lütfi Elvan, Minister of Treasury and Finance.

We expanded our investment plans over time. We raised our request for land to 11 million square meters. We acquired 4.5 million square meters from the Treasury in the tender that was held. Additionally, we acquired 2.5 million square meters from private individuals. We spent 4 billion lira on the land.

When our land reached 6.5 million square meters, we made our initial applications for investment. We obtained the necessary permits. Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture also granted the permit.

We are waiting for the land to be declared a "Special Industrial Zone." Even if the decision is issued in the coming days, we will lay the foundation in 2026. The initial investment will be 5.5 billion dollars.

These investments, which will be 100% owned by SASA, will gradually continue with paraxylene, propane, and ethylene production, followed by a refinery and a port. After seeing the results of the initial investment, we will start a 10 billion dollar investment.

Our investments in Yumurtalık will continue by three-year intervals. The total will reach 25 billion dollars. We will produce from raw materials based on crude oil, intermediate products, and up to the final product as far as yarn.
When our investments in Yumurtalık come online, we will seize the opportunity to replace our country's 22 billion dollars in imports in this field.

Erdemoğlu explained the foreign interest and plans for the 25 billion dollar investment during a conversation in Adana.

We will establish 5 companies for the investment in Yumurtalık, 100% owned by SASA. Although SASA itself is not involved, but we are open to offers to give 49% shares to foreign investors in the companies to be established. Four different foreign companies are already testing the waters.

Erdemoğlu also shared this information while chatting with Hakan Güldağ in the early days of this month in a newspaper.

Erdemoğlu Holding and the project are attracting the interest of enterprises operating in this sector worldwide. Discussions are being held on cooperation opportunities that extend from a commercial partnership involving raw material supply and product sales to direct capital partnership.

Two very large players in the global energy market as producers and sellers have expressed their interest in various forms of cooperation and even partnership.
Contact has been made to exchange ideas with the sovereign wealth fund of a significant oil and gas producing country.

No preliminary agreement or memorandum of understanding has been signed yet. In brief, the biggest step to pave the way for a $25 billion investment in Yumurtalık was taken with the decision to establish a "Special Industrial Zone"…

News Source: Nasıl Bir Ekonomi Gazetesi