Erdoğan & President Gül attend ceremony for 3rd Bosphorus bridge

The groundbreaking ceremony for Istanbul’s third bridge was held in the Garipçe area on the European side, on 29th May 2013. PM Erdoğan & President Gül were among those who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The ceremony took place on the 560th anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest by Fatih Sultan Mehmet, the Ottoman Emperor in 1453.

Turkey has recently realized many infrastructure projects and has many giant ones on its agenda. Among those are the third bridge over Bosphorus and the third airport for Istanbul.

The project for Istanbul’s third bridge on the Bosporus was tendered last year as part of the north Marmara motorway project’s Odayeri-Paşaköy section. The consortium consisting of the Turkish IC İçtaş and the Italian Astaldi that submitted the bid with the shortest term of construction and operation, 10 years two months and 20 days had won the tender.

It is reported that the bridge will be constructed under a build-operate-transfer mode (BOT) in which private companies that build the bridge will have the right to collect tolls from vehicles using the bridge for a period of time before handing the bridge over to the state.

It is also reported that the consortium is expected to complete the construction of the bridge in 36 months, at a total cost of about $4.5 billion, after the contract is signed.

However, Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım stated that the bridge should be ready for use by the end of 2015.

The new six-lane bridge is planned to be built 1.3 km in length, to the north of the two existing ones, between the Garipçe district on the European side and the Poyrazköy district on the Asian side. The bridge will have 4 lanes each direction as well as rail system.

Drilling on the construction of the bridge is ongoing right now. General Directorate of Highways (KGM) said this week that the third bridge on the Bosporus would be much stronger than the existing two bridges. “The consortium agreed Korean Hyundai and SK to build its lateral towers, aprons and suspension cables. Now the Koreans are at work,” added Turhan.

The bridge has been subject to big arguments though as many have expressed worries that its construction will lead to the destruction of Istanbul’s remaining green areas near the Black Sea coast while creating new traffic headaches.

29.05.2013
SOURCE: EDITOR