New clause allows buildings along third Istanbul bridge motorway

ISTANBUL

Hürriyet Photo

Buildings such as shopping malls and hotels that bring in revenue will be allowed to be built alongside the connection roads of Istanbul’s third bridge over the Bosphorus, according to a clause passed in an omnibus bill last year 2014.

The clause, which was included in the additional ninth article of the Forest Law in an omnibus bill in 2014, states that a fee for the facilities constructed with the build-operate-transfer model in forested lands within highway borderlines will not be charged, daily Bugün has reported.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Bursa deputy İlhan Demiröz, a member of the parliamentary committee working on agriculture, forest and rural affairs, pointed out the dangers that the regulation poses.

“They [the government] will pave the way for income to be made by granting fixed and revenue generating areas to their supporters. We will continuously see constructions such as hotels, petrol stations and restaurants being built alongside the road of the third bridge over the Bosphorus, destroying forests,” said Demiröz.

Ali Küçükaydın, the head of the Forest Engineers Chamber, described the clause as “unconstitutional,” stating that “forest destruction continues through laws violating Constitutional Court rulings.”

“With this regulation, the way has been paved for third parties to make particular use of the highway and connection roads of the third bridge, Turkey’s most precious forested lands, and at no cost,” said Küçükaydın.

Meanwhile, seven people are facing prison terms of up to 15 years on charges of reckless homicide in an accident that killed three workers during the construction of a viaduct for Istanbul’s third bridge on April 5, 2014. The accident was “predictable and preventable, and happened as a result of imprudence and carelessness,” the expert report stated.