ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s Privatization Administration has begun the sales process for two electricity distribution grids with the last date for bids set for October 20, the agency said on Friday.

Applications for pre-qualification in the tenders are due by July 15.
One grid serves 927,000 customers in the provinces of Trabzon, Rize, Giresun, Gumushane and Artvin in northeastern Turkey, along the country’s Black Sea border.
The other has approximately 1.16 million customers in the western provinces of Afyonkarahisar, Bilecik, Eskisehir, Kutahya and Usak.
Turkey had delayed the sales of its electricity assets, which were due to be the cornerstone of last year’s privatization drive, amid weak investor interest. It could again struggle to attract interest to the sales due to the global economic downturn.
Turkey sold four distribution grids last year for a combined $2.394 billion and has promised to sell the remaining 16 to increase efficiency and lower costs for consumers.
The International Monetary Fund-backed sales of power grids are aimed at reducing the state’s role in energy, where it controls about 80 percent of generation and distribution.
The state has not made any large-scale investments in its power network since 2003. It needs to increase capacity or face black-outs as early as 2010, according to sector experts.
Turkey may have to double its current capacity of about 40,000 megawatts over the next decade to meet rising demand, TEIAS, a state power company, said in a study last year.
That would require as much as $10 billion in investment each year and would far exceed currently scheduled construction.