Canal Edirne project by Turkey-Greece border almost complete, authorities say

EDİRNE – Doğan News Agency

The Canal Edirne project located near the Turkey-Greece border has been 99 percent finalized, Murat Acu, General Directorate for State Hydraulic Works (DSİ), said on April 28. 

“The digging [for the canal] is 99 percent complete as of this day,” Acu said, referring to the canal, which is 7,800 meters long.

The canal is being built on the Meriç (Evros) River, which is notorious for its flooding.

With the project, which was initiated in November 2015 with a budget of 45 million Turkish liras (roughly 11.1 million U.S. dollars), the canal will be able to hold up to 2,500 cubic meters per second.

The Meriç is known to flood around up to 2,000 cubic meters of rainfall when it does overflow.

Also, four of the five bridges planned as part of the project are also complete, Acu said.

Backing Acu’s statement, the project will come to completion by July, Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu said on April 29.

“95 percent of Canal Edirne is completed. Only one bridge and 100 meters of it are left,” Eroğlu said.

Meanwhile, another canal project—Canal Istanbul—will be a post-election priority, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 28.

His government’s first initiative after winning the elections will be the construction of Canal Istanbul, an artificial sea-level waterway that will connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, Erdoğan said.

Once completed, Canal Istanbul will reduce shipping traffic, particularly oil tanker traffic, passing through the Bosphorus Strait.