Turkish Kipaş Holding will be the largest paper manufacturer in Europe after its papermill in Aydın's Söke district. At the plant, which represents a more than $500-million investment, 1,000 people will be employed in the first stage. Paper production will mainly be made from waste paper. The papermill will be commissioned in 2019 and it was said it will be cutting imports by $300 million, achieving $200 million in exports.
Talking to Turkish daily Dünya about the said investment, Kipaş Holding Chairman Hanefi Öksüz said they will produce the paper types that Turkey cannot currently produce, adding that the paper production will mainly be from waste paper.
"A certain amount of imported cellulose will be used. We pay $300 million a year for paper imports as a country. We will eliminate this and reach $200 million in exports," Öksüz noted, stressing that this factory will contribute $500 million to the closure of current account deficit and, in turn, to the national economy.
Underlining that Kipaş Holding has investments in many areas other than paper production, Öksüz said they are constantly investing in the textile sector, recalling that they have recently built a spinning mill. "We are also expanding the denim fabric plant. We will double our capacity in denim, increasing the fabric production to approximately 5-6 million meters per month," Öksüz continued.
Citing the fact that they are installing new geothermal energy plants along with a gas-concrete plant in Söke and an energy plant in Kahramanmaraş to produce from waste heat, Öksüz said they have an investment amount of $150 million in sectors other than paper, highlighting that together with the paper production facility in Söke, they have a total investment worth $650 million in 2018.
Öksüz said the private sector in Turkey has undertaken significant projects. "Our goal as a country must be to industrialize and carry our economy to higher levels. Everything depends on it. Terror depends on it, as well as the strength of the military," he continued. "When you look at the private sector, you see its achievements in the defense industry. The state would not allow making weapons. If it had been allowed, we would have had everything in the 1950s. Nevertheless, we have achieved very important successes in a short time."
Suggesting that the tighter the state holds the hands of the private sector, the more Turkey develops, Öksüz said, the economic development it will provide the country in many aspects, such as increasing public income, reducing unemployment, growing exports, decreasing terror and making people happier. "We have to industrialize as a country," Öksüz concluded.
