CANAL ISTANBUL CONSTRUCTION TO START SOON

The “Canal Istanbul Project” was announced first time on April 27, 2011 by then Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, who was the prime minister at the time. It didn’t have a name then, it was described as the ‘Crazy Project’. According to the EIA report, the project passes through the borders of Küçükçekmece, Avcılar, Başakşehir, Arnavutköy districts, and the connection of the project to the Black Sea will be provided in Karaburun in the north, and the connection to the Marmara Sea will be provided in Küçükçekmece Lake. The Zoning Law was amended for the project, which was planned as an alternative transit route to the Bosphorus. According to the report, the Kanal Istanbul project, which is planned with the concept of ‘waterway’, will be 45 kilometers long, 250 meters in the lower part, 360 meters in the upper part and 20.75 meters in depth. However, the project does not only consist of a «waterway». Coastal structures, marinas, container ports and logistics centers, land acquisition from the sea, dredging and concrete batching plants are also part of the project.
It is anticipated that the construction works of the project will be completed in a total of 7 years, 4 of which are excavations. The construction cost of the project is estimated to be 60 billion TL, displacements and transitions are approximately 15 billion TL, for a total of 75 billion TL. It is no secret that this price will be much higher with the reflection of the increase in foreign currency on the material.
The 7-kilometer section of the canal will pass through Küçükçekmece, 3.5 kilometers through Avcılar (Ispartakule and Altınşehir), 6.5 kilometers through Başakşehir, and 28.5 kilometers through Arnavutköy district.
An amendment was made in the Law No. 3996 by stating that «Canal Istanbul and similar waterway projects, border gates and customs facilities, construction, operation and transfer of national park services, within the framework of the build-operate-transfer model, covers the procedures and principles regarding the assignment of capital companies or foreign companies». was done. With this article, the construction and operation of the project will be done with the Build-Operate-Transfer method. The Constitutional Court’s rejection of the CHP’s objection also means that it has become final.
Erdogan claims the project will pay for itself in a few years. However, that is not the case. It is said that this project will be billed to the public, just as the projects that were implemented with a guarantee of passage before were billed to the public.
A ceremony is expected to be held at the construction site between Arnavutköy Sazlıbosna District and Başakşehir Şamlar District on June 26 with the participation of President Erdoğan. A breakthrough in transportation; The Canal Istanbul Project, which will be built after major projects such as Marmaray, Eurasia Tunnel, Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Osmangazi Bridge, will ease the Bosphorus traffic and ensure that international transportation continues without interruption.
In the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA) prepared by Çınar Mühendislik Müşavirlik A.Ş. in January 2020, there are important headings pointing to the impact of the project on citizens and the environment.
In the report, the expected social impacts like “Temporary and permanent loss of agricultural lands”, “Loss of agricultural products and trees”, “Physical resettlement and economic displacement”, “Loss of structures such as barns, barns, shelters related to livestock” “Loss of pastures and pastures”, “Housing/ structure losses” and “forest losses”.