Here’s how Turkey wallows and builds in Libya

As expected, Turkey is cashing in on the proceeds of its power policy in Libya. Also in the construction sector.

The Turkish construction giants are back in business in the Libyan capital. Among the first to move again is Sembol Construction, which has just restarted work on Bab Tripoli 2.

This symbolic project of the reign of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, located in the south of the capital on the road leading to the international airport, includes a hotel, a shopping center and offices.

Initially assigned before the fall of the regime to another Turkish company, Renaissance Construction, better known as Rönesans, Sembol is very active in Turkey and Kazakhstan and had started to settle in Libya by 2010. In particular, the company built the Rixos Al-Nasr Hotel in collaboration with the Organization for the Development of Administrative Centers (ODAC), led by Ali Ibrahim Dabaiba, cousin of the current Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dabaiba.

This five-star hotel, inaugurated by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi himself, housed many journalists during the last days of the Gaddafi era and was later used as the headquarters of the National Transitional Council. Sembol and Rixos Hotels are run by Fettah Tamince, a businessman close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In 2010, Sembol also built 50 luxury villas in Sirte and then secured contracts in Benghazi.

Many Turkish companies terminated their contracts after 2011. According to some estimates, the total value of these contracts was around $ 19 billion. Erdogan's government has made a point to ensure their restoration, the issue being at the center of negotiations with the government of Fayez al-Sarraj, and then that of Dabaiba. This reopening of construction sites is used as a counterweight to the political and military support offered by Ankara to Tripoli, particularly during the offensive launched by Khalifa Haftar on the capital in 2020.

The reopening of the Bab Tripoli 2 construction site comes when Dabaiba is relaunching several key projects while December 24, the date scheduled for the presidential elections, is getting closer and closer.