Kartal Platform, which includes five prominent Turkish construction and real estate companies, has made $2 billion worth of investments on Istanbul's Anatolian side and provides employment opportunities for 6,000 people in the region.Ziya Yılmaz, the CEO of Dap Yapı, which is a member construction company of the platform, said there are no wider areas to develop housing projects than Kartal in Istanbul. According to Yılmaz's statements, when the platform started to sell its housing projects for the first time, the project price per square meter was around TL 1,800 ($615); however, they put projects up for sale for between TL 4,000 and TL 7,000 per square meter. Now, housing projects are being sold for around TL 7,000 per square meter in the region. Yılmaz also said Kartal has the potential to replace Bağdat Street, which is one of the most populous residential areas in Istanbul, within the next 10 years thanks to its proximity to Sabiha Gökçen Airport and the E-5 and TEM highways. Transportation from Kartal to the cities of Bursa and İzmit, which are located on the other side of the Marmara Sea, will be easier when the construction of the İzmit Bay Bridge is completed.Turgay Tanes, the CEO of İş Real Estate Investment Trust, said the platform is carrying out five projects -- three commercial and two housing projects -- on the Anatolian side where the project price per square meter has soared to TL 5,000 from TL 2,500 23 years ago. Referring to Marx's maxim, "The infrastructure determines the superstructure," Tanes said that Marmara University's campus will bring dynamism to the region and the population will shift away from Bağdat Street and the Ataşehir districts to Kartal. According to Tanes, this is because houses in these two neighborhoods will be too expensive even for high-income groups who have monthly incomes of around TL 60,000. In response to assertions that the housing sector is suffering a downturn, Tanes said the sector boomed after a decline in the first quarter last year and there is no uncertainty in the sector arising from elections.Ege Yapı CEO İnanç Kabadayı underlined the significance of the union of forces in the sector and said economies in the world develop thanks to the construction sector. Kabadayı also noted that projects attract great attention from Gulf countries.