Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 7 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /
Construction operations are expected to be launched this year to create a third bridge over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Shipping and Communications said today.
The project to construct a new 10-lane bridge is estimated at 2.5 billion lira. The bridge will be built by the private sector on a 'build-operate-transfer' principle. The period of construction and exploitation will be 10 years.
According to the report, creating a third bridge in Istanbul will save $1.4 billion in fuel. The bridge is expected to be constructed in 2015.
It was previously reported that a joint venture comprising the İctas and Astaldi companies which won the tender for the new bridge construction.
According to the report, it is planned to lay hot asphalt on roads running a total length of 3844 kilometres during upgrading operations in 2013. It also reported that Turkey built paved roads running a total length of 13,834 kilometres from 2003 to 2012.
Turkey plans to lay the foundation for the five longest tunnels in the country in 2013.