THE controversial auction of a swathe of land in Altinkum has been completed – with all the plots bought out for a total 84 million TL.
While a bitter pill to swallow that the town could possibly face more building work in Plot 1020 – there was further bad news over the future of wasteland next to the Didim Tax Office.
It appears that this plot, owned by the Government and which Didim Council had earmarked as a site for a culture centre, is now being shifted to auction for private sale.
Parcel 1020
The land – located at the back of the Ruby Hill complex, just off the bottom of Ataturk Boulevard – extends and borders part of Hunters Valley and is about 120,000 sqm.
It was in the hands of the government’s Treasury department but it decided to hand the rights of the land over to a government department called the Privatization Agency. This agency has the authority to sell land on to interested and private owners.
And so it was that at the auction, 12 pieces of land that made up Plot 1020 were auctioned off. The highest bidders for the land amounted to 83.95 million TL.
The parcel of land known as Plot 1020
Previously Didim Mayor Deniz Atabay said there was no real knowing of who the land could or would be sold on to.
But he said that its proximity to the Altinkum neighborhood and the fact it was seen as a recreation land was important to the town.
He said: “The potential for 118,000 m2 of land to become open to development in this place makes us uneasy. We cannot interfere with the Privatization Agency regarding the development plans of this place.
“But we want parcel 1020 to remain a recreation area, a place where you can breathe in Didim.”
Land next to Didim Tax Office
It appears that the land next to the tax office had been touted as a potential cultural centre for the town, but this seems to have been dashed.
News broken in local media suggested the land, which is within the central government’s hands, has also been shifted to the Privatization Agency which can act to sell the land on.
No information has been supplied when, if any, the auction will go ahead, but Mr Atabay has raised the possibility of launching legal action to retain the land within Didim’s hands.