I fondly remember spending summers visiting grandparents in Turkey during my youth. These visits, however, always started the same disappointing way. Arrival at a second-rate Istanbul airport, traveling on a dilapidated thruway under barely lit bridges and tunnels, to finally arrive on the Asian side of Istanbul at a relative's house. Having come from the suburbs of Syracuse, New York, Istanbul's lack of proper infrastructure was always a mystery to me. Istanbul is quite literally 100 times larger than Syracuse in terms of population; however, the infrastructure was probably far poorer than Syracuse's in the 1980s and ‘90s.

The success of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its founder, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a story dotted with major public works projects. Elected as the mayor of Istanbul, Erdoğan was the chief executive of Turkey's largest city, for four years from 1994 to 1998. The hallmark of his tenure in city hall was his ability to improve the lives of the city's residents. In years past, driving from the European side to the Asian side of Istanbul meant holding your nose while traversing the Golden Horn Bridge, ripe with the smell of pollution, dumped into the bay beneath the bridge. Erdoğan spearheaded a revitalization and rejuvenation of Istanbul in which pollution was eliminated from the bay, allowing drivers to breathe freely while crossing the bridge. Tired overpasses and bridges were retired. On-ramps and wide exits allowed residents easy access to their neighborhoods. He was the "can-do mayor."

Istanbul began its transformation from being a large village to a proper metropolis. While Erdoğan's AK Party is most praised by voters for implementing social equality and enhancing civil liberties, the formation of a previously non-existent middle class and institutions that serve them, it is also praised for brick-and-mortar infrastructure projects that have allowed Turkey to become a hub for international investment.

The completion of one of several "mega" projects, the Osman Gazi Bridge, opened its lanes to the public last week. The İzmit Bay Bridge, as it was formally known, connects Istanbul to Yalova across the Sea of Marmara. The cornerstone of the Gebze-Orhangazi-İzmir Highway project, Osman Gazi Bridge shaves nearly 90 minutes off of travel times between Istanbul and Yalova by highway and nearly an hour relative to the more popular ferry route. The bridge is the first of many of the "2023 Mega Projects" the Turkish government has planned in launching the economy into the top 10 globally.

While the bridge itself is an architectural wonder - it is the fourth longest suspension bridge in the world - it also marks a turning point in the use of private financing for much needed infrastructure projects. While many municipalities have launched similar build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects, they are all minuscule in comparison to the next batch of mega projects coming online in the near future. Turkey's potential can only be fully realized with a proper infrastructure that connects the major cities of the country. It was cheaper to ship products from Turkey's south to Europe by plane than to Istanbul by truck for many decades. This meant a nearly nonexistent trade route within the country. Only with the advent of proper infrastructure projects has commerce within the country become feasible.

With the completion of the Gebze-İzmir highway, a nearly nine-hour journey will be cut by 60 percent to three-and-a-half hours. This will mean immediate savings in energy costs, a decrease in the amount of fossil fuels burned and the pollution they cause, as well as increases in productivity. This highway project will make many cities along the highway reachable from Istanbul and İzmir spurring growth along the corridor.

For all of the benefits of Osman Gazi Bridge and other mega projects in the pipeline, an underground tunnel connecting Istanbul, a third Bosporous bridge, a much needed third international airport in Istanbul, the method of financing for the bridge and several of the other mega projects is the most noteworthy. With private investment into these projects, no tax dollars are spent. Consumers are given a choice when traveling and the private sector is only able to recoup their investment if their projects are attractive enough to be chosen by the people.

Currently, Turkish municipalities are not allowed to issue their own bonds. With the advent of municipal bonds in Turkey, the number of major infrastructure projects will increase dramatically. These developments will add to the growth in the interior of the country and add to the bottom line of the economy, pushing Turkey into the next level of global competitiveness.