Kanal Ä°stanbul
The channel - Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul channel ) is a project of the Turkish government, parallel to the Bosphorus to dig a channel for shipping, which is to connect the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. The channel is supposed to be run in the western part of Istanbul and completed in 2023 for the hundredth anniversary of the founding of Turkey.
Past projects
Already in the past had different rulers and politicians the idea of a waterway to create parallel to the Bosphorus. Both at the time of the Ottoman Empire as well as the least of Bülent Ecevit in 1994, such considerations were known.
Reasoning and planning
Where else in 1936 crossed an average of 13 ships per day the Bosphorus, this figure for 2012 has increased to an average of 255 ships per day. Both the freight amount and size of the ships, but also the population of Istanbul has increased dramatically during this period (from 750,000 to 13.9 million inhabitants).
On the Bosphorus, many more shipwrecks occurred. Some of these were:
- On December 14, 1960, the oil tanker Peter Verovitz (Yugoslavia ) and World Harmony ( Greece) collided with each other. There were 20 deaths and large amounts of oil from running.
- On 1 March 1966, two Soviet oil tankers ( Lutsk and Kransky ) collided with each other. Large amounts of oil ran out and caused the burning of the Kadıköy ferry and Kadıköy Pier, the main pier on the Asian side of Istanbul.
- On 1 July 1970, the Italian oil tanker Ancona collided against a building on the coast. There were 5 people killed.
At the latest after the oil tanker accident Independenta of 15 November 1979 it had become clear that the high ship traffic and the resulting risks to Istanbul are hard to wear yet. After this accident, the tanker and the oil spill burned before the Haydarpaşa railway station less than a month on, there were 51 deaths. The fairway through the Bosporus was initially blocked and obstructed years later by the wreck.
In addition, many occur annually, mostly minor shipwrecks on the Bosphorus.
27 April 2011 Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the intention, the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea by means of a parallel to the Bosphorus running navigation canal to connect. The reasons for the discharge of the Bosphorus and the reduction of threats to the waterways were called. The Bosphorus is a day sail of about 255 ships, including numerous oil tankers. Experts fear environmental disasters by tanker accidents due to high traffic on the shallow waterway. The Government hopes that a settlement of industrial and people along the waterway.
The new channel will be about 40 to 50 km long. The width of 150 m and depth of 25 m to allow all boats may pass. In Karaburun the waterway to flow into the Black Sea.
The pre- feasibility and feasibility studies began in April 2011.
Costs
The cost of the project is estimated to be eight to ten billion U.S. dollars. For the realization of the project, a public- private partnership is under discussion. An unnamed Russian company could finance the construction and received the passage fees for a certain period.
Criticism
Criticism comes on the one hand and environmentalists on the other hand by politicians who fear too much control of shipping through Turkey. Turkish authorities could use loopholes in the Treaty of Montreux, in order to force the shipping industry to use the new, fee-based channel.