he 45km Istanbul Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway 25-metres deep planned by Turkey in East Thrace, connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and thus to the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. The proposed Istanbul Canal will bisect the current European side of Istanbul and form an island between Asia and Europe (the island would have a shoreline with the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, the new canal and the Bosporus). The new waterway would bypass the current Bosporus. Current proposals include building two additional energy efficient 'smart cities' along the route of the canal and constructing four new gas-powered plants to generate additional energy for the grid.
The purpose of the canal is to minimise shipping traffic in the Bosporus. It is projected to have a capacity of 160 vessel transits a day – similar to the current volume of traffic through the Bosporus, where traffic congestion leaves ships queuing for days to transit the strait. Some analysts have speculated that the main reason for construction of the canal is to bypass the Montreux Convention, which limits the number and tonnage of warships from non-Black Sea powers that could enter the sea via the Bosporus, as well as prohibiting tolls on traffic passing through it. In January 2018, the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced that the Istanbul Canal would not be subject to the Montreux Convention.
The Istanbul Canal project also includes the construction of ports (a large container terminal in the Black Sea, close to the Istanbul Airport), logistic centres and artificial islands to be integrated with the canal, as well as new earthquake-resistant residential areas along the channel. The artificial islands will be built using soil dug for the canal. Transport projects being integrated with the canal project include the Halkali-Kapikule high-speed train, the Turkish State Railways project, the Yenikapi-Sefakoy-Beylikduzu and Mahmutbey-Esenyurt metro lines in Istanbul and the D-100 highway crossing, Tem highway and Sazlibosna highway.
The government is looking to generate US$8 billion in revenue per year from the Istanbul Canal, in part from a service fee for transits. The Istanbul Canal will cost an estimated US$15 billion to build and will involve between 8,000-10,000 workers during construction - further development will take place on either side of the canal.
After planning the route, crews will begin excavating from the middle in opposite directions towards the sea entrances at either side, beginning with dry excavation, before going deeper and dredging and excavating the lowest parts of the dam that fall below the water table. At either end, they leave an “earth dam” between the canal and the sea, which is then removed as the final stage by blasting to allow water to flow in.
The current estimate for the project is seven years – one and a half years to finish the tendering and financing process for the canal, then five and half years for construction of the main canal. The canal concept is seen one of many megaprojects launched by Erdoğan – including one of the world’s largest suspension bridges and one of the world’s biggest airports, reflecting an assertion of presidential authority and security for the leader's long-term legacy. Companies involved in the project have been named as Yapi Merkezi, Cimko and Bechtel.
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