Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 3
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
With the completion of the construction of new shipping canal in Istanbul, part of the city will turn into an island, Trend reports referring to the Turkish Transport ad Infrastructure Ministry.
According to the ministry, 19 of the 35 settlements of Istanbul will be located on the island. Thus, some of Istanbul's districts will be interconnected by bridges.
The construction of the shipping canal in Istanbul, which will begin in 2019, will be completed in 2025.
The purpose of the construction of the Istanbul canal 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 depth of the canal will be 25 meters. The canal 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 canal will run parallel to the Bosphorus and will actually turn the European part of Istanbul into an island and finally separate it from Europe. The canal will pass from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea through the Kucukcekmece Lake.
On the banks of the canal, it is planned to build new residential complexes, which will be connected with other areas of the 15 million metropolis via 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 navigable canal will continue for five years and the minimum service life of the canal will be 100 years.
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