Tender to be held for Canal Istanbul project by end of 2016: PM Yıldırım

ISTANBUL

A tender for the controversial Canal Istanbul, building a “second Bosphorus” across Istanbul’s European side, will be held by the end of this year, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said.

“We will push the button for the Canal Istanbul project at the end of this year,” Yıldırım said at a fast-breaking ceremony on June 25.

Canal Istanbul was among the “crazy projects” of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a campaign promise ahead of the 2011 general election. Erdoğan previously pledged to build a 43-kilometer-long, 400-meter-wide canal connected with six bridges. Some 500,000 people would reside in the area surrounding the canal, he had also said.

Yıldırım also touched on other infrastructure “megaprojects” over the last decade, saying the İzmit Bay Bridge, a key part of the Gebze-Orhangazi-İzmir Highway Project that will shorten the travel time between Istanbul and the Aegean city of İzmir, will open on June 30, while the third bridge over the Bosphorus will open on Aug. 26.

The Eurasia Tunnel, a roadway tunnel connecting Istanbul’s European and Asian sides, will also open to service this December, while the first stage of Istanbul’s third airport is planned to open in February 2018, Yıldırım said.