According to the Turkish Online Editions of Yeni Safak and Hurriyet Daily News, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality announced a project to build three islands for watersports in the Sea of Marmara.
These three islands are an idea of the Turkish President, Recep Erdoğan, who recently revived the “crazy project” of digging a new canal through Istanbul to relieve shipping pressure on the narrow Bosphorus strait, but now there is a plan to use spoil from the massive excavations to make three islands in the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
Three artificial islands will be built in the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea with excavation from the construction of Istanbul’s controversial Kanal Istanbul project, aiming to build a “second Bosphorus“.
Digging the 43-km-long, 25-m-deep, and 400-m-wide canal would produce around 2.7 billion cubic metres of material, and the idea is to build the islands at the northern and southern ends of it to recoup some of the canal’s cost with residential developments, sources told the newspaper Habertürk, according to English-language Hurriyet Daily News.
Rocks from nearby quarries would be used for foundations and sea defences, while soil from the canal will be used as fill.
The artificial islands are planned to be built at the exits of Marmara Sea and the Black Sea, and will be income-generating in order to finance the planned canal. The authorities are also plan to construct residences on the islands. The islands will be adapted for maritime traffic and there will be ports and berthing areas.
The purpose of the canal, aiming to bisect the current European side of Istanbul and thus form an island between the continents of Asia and Europe, is to reduce the load on the Bosphorus: it is planned that the new canal will serve mainly oil tankers. The project was initiated by then-Prime Minister and current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2011.
According to the projects, it is planning to give different names to the islands. The marine traffic for these islands will also be constructed.
It is expected that the deepest point of the canal will be 25 meters, bottom width 120 meters and surface width 140 meters. Expected cost of the project is $10 billion.
Français:
Selon les éditions des journaux turcs comme Yeni Safak ou encore Hürriyet Daily News,
À la base, ces trois îles sont l’origine d’une autre idée du Président turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, qui a récemment ranimé “ce projet fou” de creuser un nouveau canal à travers la ville d’Istanbul pour désengorger la pression de navigation que le détroit du Bosphore subit en étant actuellement très étroit. Ce projet des trois îles va se construire à partir des restes des fouilles massives sur la mer Noire et la mer du Marmara. Les autorités planent également de construire des résidences sur ces îles. Les îles seront adaptées au trafic maritime et il y aura des zones d’amarrage et des ports.
Ce projet controversé d’un deuxième détroit ou d’un “deuxième Bosphore” qui va traverser les alentours de la ville d’Istanbul a accueilli des nombreuses réactions soit positives soit négatives en Turquie et à l’étranger.
Ce projet fait partie des grandes infrastructures que le président espère inaugurer pour le centenaire de la République turque.
- Details and leisures which would be found on these three artificial islands
The three interconnected islands, which are to have a total area of 603,500 square meters, will be built off the Pendik Marina in the Sea of Marmara, adding to Istanbul’s existing 11 islands.
The total coastal length of the islands will be 7,460 meters. There are plans for the islands to have a combination of leisure, entertainment and sports activities.
The plans include a large number of activities such as aquatic sports areas, sailing, boat tours, terraces, recreation and dining areas, parks and cycling trails. Access to the islands will be via a pedestrian suspension bridge, yacht and sled area, cable car station and water taxi.
The first and biggest island, which is planned to be 372,000 square meters, will be a water sports hub. The island will have a beach, water sports club, swimming pool, rafting track, lighthouse, boathouse and a large picnic area.
The first island will be a water sports center, as visitors will be able to partake in sailing, windsurfing, rowing, rafting and beach volleyball. There will also be water polo and underwater sports facilities, such as underwater hockey, underwater rugby and a diving school.
The second island, planned at 125,000 square meters, will house other sporting facilities, such as mini golf; a skate park; climbing walls; basketball, football and tennis courts, hiking and biking trails; and eating and drinking areas.
The third island is designed to accommodate visitors. Tents, restaurants, boat for rent, jogging and cycling tracks, and showgrounds and parks are to fill up the planned area of 106,000 square meters.
The ideal completion for the new canal was set for 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic from the Ottoman Empire.
Sources: Yeni Safak (photo credit), Hurriyet Daily News, Sabah Daily.
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