Deputy General Manager of Otoyol Yatirim ve İsletme A.S. (Motorway Investment and Operation CO.), Bulent Esendal, said that the construction works of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Highway, which will be completed with an investment of 6.5 billion Dollar in total, are on-going rapidly and that the aim is to put the Gebze-Orhangazi part of the Highway into operation at the beginning of 2016. Esendal stated that the amount of investment for the Gebze-Orhangazi stage is around 2 billion and 800 million Dollar and 50 percent of this amount is provided from equity capital and the remaining 50 percent is on credit. Bulent Esendal drew attention to the fact that the Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge, which will be realized within the scope of the project, will be one of the largest suspension bridges of the world. Signifying that the bridge will be the 4th largest bridge of the world with its interior span length of one thousand and 550 metres, Esendal stated that 15 million Dollars was spent for seismic prospecting in the Bay Area. Indicating the total amount of investment for the project to be 6.5 million Dollar excluding financing costs, Esendal said that the General Directorate of Highways (KGM) on expropriating side and Otoyol on the side of construction activities were putting forth intensive efforts to put various parts of the project into operation before the expiry of the contract duration. Esendal also stated that they aim to put the Gebze-Orhangazi part including the Izmit Bay Crossing Bridge into operation within the next 3 and a half years.