Istanbul's Third Bosphorus Bridge link road tender postponed again

ANKARA

A tender for the link roads within the scope of the Northern Marmara Highway project, which includes the under-construction third bridge over the Bosphorus, has been postponed yet again, as the interested parties need more time to finalize their proposals, according to an announcement by the General Directorate of Highways.

“The tender date for the Northern Marmara highway project’s Kurtköy-Akyazı and Kınalı-Odayeri sections has been revised, as additional time is needed to finalize the interested parties’ offers,” said the statement published in Turkey’s Official Gazette on June 24. 

The tender for the construction of the Kurtköy-Akyazı section, which had earlier been scheduled for June 30, has been postponed to Aug. 31, while the tender for the Kınalı-Odayeri section, which was due to be held on July 7, has been postponed to Sept. 7, according to the statement. 

The third Bosphorus Bridge - controversially named after 16th century Ottoman Sultan Selim I, known in English as Selim the Grim - and its connecting highways are expected to cost Turkey around $3 billion. The construction began in 2013 and both towers have already been completed. As of May, the Asian tower had reached 318 meters high from the ground, while the European one had risen to 322 meters.