Erdogan Declares Start of Construction of Istanbul Canal Connecting Black, Marmara Seas [Photo]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday launched the construction of the Istanbul Canal that will run parallel to the Bosporus Strait and connect the Black and Marmara seas.

Turkish President plans to build a canal in Istanbul will cost around $15 billion, according to the nation’s transport minister.

The Istanbul Canal project has been a longtime aspiration of Erdogan, as he was a mayor of the metropolis at some point. The project seeks to construct a 28-mile canal linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara to relieve shipping pressure off the Bosphorus.

This is how the future Istanbul channel, which Turkey is building bypassing the Bosphorus, should look like:

“Today, we are turning a new page in Turkey’s development by laying the first stone in the construction of the first bridge across the Istanbul Canal, which will be 45 kilometres [28 miles] in length, at least 275 meters [902 feet] wide and 21 meters deep,” Erdogan said during the ceremony.

Kanal İstanbul
Picture from Ahval News

“We will break the ground for the first bridge by the end of June,” Adil Karaismailoglu, minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, told state-run TRT on Friday. The six bridges spanning the canal will cost $1.4 billion, the minister said.

Erdoğan’s son-in-law and former finance minister Berat Albayrak has purchased a large plot of land on the site projected for the project. Others close to Erdoğan expect to profit from the project.

Forsided, 28.06.2021
Source: Ahval News

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