ANKARA \u2014 After several years of delays, Turkey’s Parliament has passed a bill for clearing more than 1 million landmines, mostly in Turkey’s southern and eastern border areas. Industry sources say several contracts, big and small, are on the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The law orders the founding of a National Mine Center and tasks it with “making policy, strategy and work plans to remove threats from landmines and other unexploded ammunitions.” The center also will set up and operate an information management system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Eventually, this effort will bring in several contracts for specialized companies, Turkish and foreign,” said one industry executive who dealsing<\/span> with munitions. “Contracts will involve both clearance work and equipment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysts and industry sources agree that the entire program will entail contracts worth several <\/span>hundreds of millions of dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The law, passed in Parliament’s general assembly on Jan. 22, grants customs and import tax exceptions to “all kinds of equipment, vehicles and machinery that will imported for the purpose of demining.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although one procurement official familiar with the demining program said that both <\/span>foreign and local companies would race for demining contracts, deputies in a last-minute move during parliamentary debate annexed an article that favors local companies over foreign ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The article states that “local companies should be given priority in acquisition of goods and services in landmine clearance activity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n