The Enfidha-Zine El Abidine Ben Ali International Airport--to be operated by TAV Airports until 2047 and presently under construction by TAV Construction--is to be inaugurated soon and to begin operation. Expected to play an important role in the development of the region, the airport constitutes one of the major investments of Tunisia; during the first phase, the airport will be operated with a capacity for 7 million passengers and in future years, in line with the contract and an ongoing construction process in accordance with increases in passenger numbers, passenger capacity will reach 22 million passengers a year.

The pride and joy of Tunisia adorns the Tunisian 50 Dinar bank note

By request of Tunisian state authorities, on the occasion of both the Central Bank’s 50th anniversary, on 25 July 2009, which is also Republic Day in Tunisia, the picture of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali International Airport, equipped with the tallest tower of Europe and Africa, has been printed on the newly issued Tunisian 50 Dinar bank note, the highest monetary unit in the history of Tunisia.

In a statement to La Presse, Tunisia’s national newspaper, Taoufik Baccar, Chairman of the Central Bank of Tunisia, said that they have issued the Tunisian 50 Dinar bank note gradually in order to keep the monetary balance of the country under control. Within the next 6 months Tunisian 50 Dinar bank notes worth a total of 3-4 million Tunisian Dinars will be issued. Adding that the new issue of bank notes is taking place at a regular interval with previous bank note issues (once every 13 years), Baccar said that this issue was carried out in order to adapt national economy to the development of financial operations that require a higher value in bank notes.

TAV Tunisia Country Director and TAV Airports Holding Business Development Director with Responsibility for Subsidiaries, Haluk Bilgi, pointed out that the presence of a picture of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali International Airport in Enfidha, a project by TAV Airports Holding, on the newly-issued Tunisian 50 Dinar bank note, the highest monetary unit in Tunisia, was of historical importance. Bilgi also said: “Airports are image projects for the countries where they are located; they constitute the most important image in your mind about a country that you arrive in or that you depart from. The fact that the Tunisian Government has decided to print a picture of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali International Airport to be operated by TAV Airports on the newly-issued Tunisian 50 Dinar bank note will be recorded in history as a great source of pride.”