Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The tender for construction of the shipping channel in Istanbul will be held this year, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey Mehmet Cahit Turhan said in an exclusive interview with Trend Oct. 17.
He noted that the research will be completed before the tender begins.
“The purpose of building the shipping channel in Istanbul is to prevent accidents during freight transportation in the Sea of Marmara,” the minister said.
The minister also noted that the construction of a logistics center, a port and an artificial island are underway as part of the shipping channel’s construction project in Istanbul.
The intention to implement the project of construction of the Istanbul shipping channel was announced for the first time in 2011 by the current President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The length of the shipping channel in Istanbul will be 45 kilometers, and as part of the construction project, a special authority will also be created in order to control the operation of the channel after its commissioning.
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 ministry said.
The depth of the Istanbul channel, according to plans, will be 25 meters. The channel will be able to let pass 150-160 vessels per day.
Currently, 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.
On the banks of the artificial channel, it is planned to build 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.
As part of this project, the construction of a new port is also expected.
It will be possible to use tankers with a length of 275 meters, a width of 48 meters and a capacity of 14,500 DWT on the Istanbul shipping channel, which is being built as part of the government’s “Vision 2023” plan.
The construction of the shipping channel will continue for five years and its minimum service life will be 100 years.
The official exchange rate for October 18 is 5.8218 TRY/USD.
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