Baku, Azerbaijan, April 2
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
The cancellation of such mega-projects in Turkey’s Istanbul city as the construction of the shipping channel is out of the question, a source in the Turkish government told Trend on April 2.
The Turkish government was commenting on the results of the municipal elections in the country.
“This project is one of the priorities and is being implemented within the government’s “Vision 2023” plan,” the source added.
The source said that the information that a new shipping channel will not be built in the city because candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party Binali Yildirim lost the municipal elections in Istanbul is false.
The intention to implement the project of construction of the Istanbul ship channel was announced for the first time in 2011 by incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The length of the ship channel in Istanbul will be 43 kilometers.
The purpose of the construction of the Istanbul channel is to reduce the burden of shipping on the Bosphorus Strait, as well as to prevent the threat of environmental and man-made disasters on one of the most intense sea routes in the world.
The width of the Istanbul channel, according to the plans, will be 400 meters, and its depth - 25 meters. The channel will be able to let pass 150-160 vessels per day.
The Bosphorus is used by an average of 150 vessels per day, of which about 30 are oil tankers. Annually about 150 million tons of oil and oil products are transported through the Black Sea Straits, while the throughput capacity of the Bosphorus is estimated at 200 million tons.
The Istanbul channel will run parallel to the Bosphorus and will actually make the European part of Istanbul an island and finally separate it from Europe. The channel will pass from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea through the Kucukcekmece Lake.
The new residential complexes, which will be connected with other areas of the 15 million metropolis thanks to modern transport infrastructure, including metro and high-speed trains, as well as with the third airport in Istanbul are planned to be built on the banks of the artificial channel.
A new port is also expected to be built as part of this project.
The tankers with a length of 275 meters, a width of 48 meters and a capacity of 14,500 DWT may be used on the Istanbul shipping channel, which is being built as part of the government’s “Vision 2023” plan.
The construction of the navigable channel will continue for five years and the minimum service life of the channel will be 100 years.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu