A low bid of around $21.3 million has been returned by a venture of the local Mitas with Norway's Statnett for the erection of a third power transmission link with a capacity of 380-kV across the Bosporus in Istanbul. The client is the Turkish Electricity Generation & Transmission Corporation (TEAS).

Ventures including local and foreign firms returning bids included:

Mitas with Statnett - $21.3 million

Galkon and Elektromontaj of Romania with France's Cegelec - $23.5 million

Usluel with Italy's ABB SAE Sadelmi - $27.4 million

Sezai Turkes-Feyzi Akkaya with Germany's Siemens - $28.4 million

H Ozdil with Romania's Romelektro - $29.7 million

Sara with Australia's Transfield Construction - $31.2 million.

The transmission line link will connect the Asian and European parts of the city into a single system, and aims to cope with an expected increase in electricity consumption, especially on the European side. The World Bank is providing around $25 million towards the project.