ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey on Wednesday announced plans to build two earthquake-resistant developments in the Istanbul area to lure residents away from dangerous neighborhoods.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the first of two "new cities" would be built on abandoned quarries and coal pits at the edge of Istanbul's European side. The second would be located on unused land on the Asian side, he said, without providing further details.

The two new urban centers would have a population of about 1 million each.

Erdogan said studies for the project would begin soon after Turkey's June 12 elections, while construction would start next year. The main aim of the project is encourage people living in Istanbul's earthquake-prone areas to move, he said.

Turkey’s trade deficit jumped 91 percent from a year earlier in March, as central bank policies failed to slow growing domestic demand that draws in imports of goods and raw materials. The deficit was $9.8 billion in the month, compared with $5.1 billion a year earlier, the statistics office in Ankara said on its website today. The figure exceeded a median estimate for a $7.8 billion deficit in data compiled by Bloomberg.

Turkish construction companies in Turkmenistan are on the edge of big losses as the government rejects to pay an alleged $1 billion for completed or ongoing projects, businessmen say. The Turkmen government is either seizing equipment or offering new and attractive contracts to overcome upcoming legal problems, they say Turkish construction companies in Turkmenistan are hardly financing their ongoing projects in the country as the government is not doing any payments, according to some businessmen.

Turkish construction firms doing business in Turkmenistan are facing financial problems as the government is rejecting to pay the cost of completed projects worth $1 billion, according to contractors speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday.

“More than 40 Turkish construction firms have been subjected to mistreatment,” said Tarık Bozbey, head of the Mediterranean Exporters Union and head of Bozbey Construction. “Turkish firms there are in a serious financial struggle.”

Bozbey said that because the Turkmen government was not making its obligatory payments the construction of some projects could not be completed. The government seized construction vehicles and equipment from some Turkish firms “illegally,” according to Bozbey. “This means billions of dollars in losses for the firms,” he said, adding that the Turkmen state had violated international laws by mistreating the Turkish firms.