Turkey unveils plan to build canal in Istanbul to aid sea traffic

Speaking at a meeting themed "Turkey's ready goals 2023, Istanbul's ready goals 2023," the prime minister unveiled plans for the "Canal Istanbul." Weeks before the announcement, there was much speculations about what the massive public project, referred to as "crazy project," could be.

He noted that there were many cities in the world with a river passing through them, however, Istanbul was the only city with a sea passing through. "Now, with this project, Istanbul will have two seas passing through it," he added.

The 45-50 km canal will be 25 meters deep, with a surface width of 145-150 meters and an underwater width of 120 meters. Erdogan said the canal will be able to support the largest ships in the world, referring to ships with 300,000 dead-weight tonnage.

Instead of two peninsulas divided by a strait, the city will now have two peninsulas, and the European side of Istanbul being an island in between. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version