Court cancels tender for Atatürk Airport 'Nation's Garden'
The legal battle over the Atatürk Airport Nation's Garden tender has concluded with the Council of State's 13th Chamber annulling the auction won by Yapı&Yapı company with a bid of 2 billion 127 million 978 thousand Turkish Liras, conducted on April 29, 2022, through invitation and in secrecy. The opposition-led İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality had filed the lawsuit demanding the cancellation of the contract.
According to a report by Sözcü, the Council of State reached a unanimous decision, making the ruling final without the possibility of correction.
In its decision, the Council of State explained that urgency is a requirement in tenders conducted under Article 21-B of the Public Procurement Law. It clarified that auctions based on this article are organized for situations that were not foreseeable in advance or possess a special feature from a construction technique perspective.
The Council of State noted that the defendant authority failed to provide technical data and documents to demonstrate which parts of the Nation's Garden and environmental landscaping project had unique construction characteristics or why they did so.
Furthermore, it highlighted that all the companies invited to bid in the tender were construction firms, and no special qualifications were sought for a project with unique construction aspects.
Taking into account that the tender in question was announced within the framework of the "First 100 Days Action Plan" presented to the public by the Presidency, the Council of State emphasized that labeling it as urgently needed, solely based on this, could not be considered a valid reason for expeditiously completing the work.
The Council of State concluded that due to the absence of urgency conditions specified in the legislation, the tender process lacked legality.
What happened?
After the opening of İstanbul Airport, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change prepared an urban plan for the 7.2 million square meters of land at Atatürk Airport. At that time, Murat Kurum, now a candidate for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Presidency, held the position of Minister.
The urban plan designated a total area of 2,818,979 square meters, including the unused north runways, hangar buildings, and a portion of the terminal building, as Millet Garden.
On April 29, 2022, the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ) held a closed-door auction using the invitation method under Article 21-B of the Public Procurement Law. Limak, Kolin, Mapa, YSE, YDA, and Yapı&Yapı were specially invited to participate, and Yapı&Yapı won the tender.
Following this, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality filed a lawsuit against TOKİ and the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change, seeking the annulment of the auction. On September 7, 2023, the Ankara 16th Administrative Court ruled that there was no violation of the law in the tender and rejected the case. Subsequently, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality appealed the decision to the Council of State. (HA/VK)