Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Marmaray, the new Istanbul Bosphorus tube passage project. The project aims to connect Istanbul's Asian and European sides. This project has been delayed for years.
Speaking at the ceremony, Erdogan noted that the project had been on the drawing boards for a decade but was only now going forward.
“When this project is completed, railways will meet 27% of Istanbul’s transportation needs, not just 3%,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Aksam newspaper.
The project called "Marmaray" includes a 13.3 km Istanbul Strait crossing and the upgrade of 63 km of suburb line to create a 76.3 km high capacity line between Gebze and Halkali.
The project is inclined to be complete in four years. A number of international institutions are helping to finance the project, with the Japanese International Credit Bank already having allocated $815 million for it. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
