Turkey to build new waterway to bypass Bosporus

Published April 27, 2011

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey's prime minister announced Wednesday that he plans to build a major new waterway to reduce traffic on the heavily congested Bosporus.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "Canal Istanbul" would be between 28 and 31 miles (40 and 45 kilometers) long and would link the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which leads to the Aegean Sea. Erdogan announced the new waterway during campaigning ahead of elections on June 12.

He did not disclose the exact location of the new waterway or the cost of the gargantuan project.

Erdogan says the project will be completed by 2023, when Turkey will be celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Turkish republic after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

"We have today embarked on the greatest project of the century," Erdogan said. He said it would be a bigger undertaking than the Panama or Suez canals.

Erdogan said hazardous materials pose a threat to the city Istanbul while they are being transported through the narrow, 30-kilometer (19-mile) Bosporus strait.

Erdogan said ships carry 139 million tons of oil, 4 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas and 3 million tons of chemicals through the Bosporus annually, threatening nearly 2 million people living and working on the banks of the waterway.