Global design and construction firms were again caught up in increasingly violent protests in the Middle East, this time in Libya, as companies scrambled to shut down projects and evacuate expatriates amid much uncertainty as to when or whether they would return to restart work—and under what government.
Industry firms from Turkey were particularly hard-hit, since Libya ranks, after Russia, as the second most important market for Turkish contractors, industry sources say. The estimated value of firms’ ongoing projects there is between $15 billion and $20 billion. Further, there were 22 Turkish firms reporting work in Libya in 2009, more than from any other country, according to ENR data.