Turkey unveils tunnel project

ISTANBUL: Turkey announced on Friday an ambitious project to build a three-storey tunnel under the Bosphorus to connect the Asian and European sides of Istanbul.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made the announcement in the run up to June elections, calling it a “harbinger for the new Turkey”.
He said the 6.5 kilometre tunnel would be integrated into Istanbul’s existing highway and railway lines and is aimed at easing the city’s intense traffic.
The total cost of the project was estimated at $3.5 billion, but Transport Minister Lutfi Elvan said the state would not spend a “single penny”.
He said the builder would cover the construction costs and later be paid back through tolls. The tunnel is expected to be ready by 2020.
The announcement comes on the heels of others including one to build a canal through Istanbul which would allow ships passing from the Marmara Sea to the Black Sea to bypass the Bosphorus, relieving pressure on the vessel-clogged waterway.
Critics have blasted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grandiose projects, which also include a new Bosphorus bridge and a third airport, as wildly excessive and damaging to the environment.
The Bosphorus, which bisects Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with some 16 million people, is the world’s fourth busiest waterway and together with the Dardanelles Strait connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.