In a move that will change the face of land and sea transport in Turkey and the world, Ankara intends to construct the Istanbul Water Canal on the European side of the city at a cost of $ 25 billion with the transformation of the Bosphorus Strait into a secondary corridor.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the canal digging project in 2011.

"Al-Jazeera Net" answers the most important questions raised about the largest project in Turkey:

1- What is the nature of the Istanbul Water Canal and its borders?

It is a waterway parallel to the Bosphorus, 30 km from it, and extends in the west of the country to connect the Black Sea in the north with the Sea of ​​Marmara in the south, with a length of 45 km, a depth of 25 meters, and a width of about 400 meters, and at one point reaches one kilometer.

The channel starts from Kucukcekmece Lake, which is a natural lake in the Sea of ​​Marmara, to the west of Istanbul, and extends north to the Sazlidere Dam, then the village of Shamlar, to the Black Sea.

2- What is its economic importance and its role in supporting Turkish trade with abroad?

The Istanbul Canal will turn the historic Bosphorus Strait into a secondary line for maritime trade compared to the new canal, which will attract ships and supertankers.

According to the information, the canal will give Turkey a great competitive advantage in the international transport trade, of which more than 75% passes through the seas.

It seems that this project will change the face of land and sea transport in Turkey, and relieve pressure on the Bosphorus channel in the east, which is one of the busiest waterways and has the highest navigational density in the world.

In 2019 alone, 53,000 civilian and military ships passed through the Bosphorus, compared to 17,000 ships that passed through the Suez Canal, and 12,000 ships that passed through the Panama Canal.

The project is valued at $ 25 billion, $ 15 billion for the construction of the canal and $ 10 billion for construction adjacent to it.

The project's plans affected the price of land surrounding the canal, as the price per square meter of land in Shamlar village increased from $ 6.5 to $ 184, and in other areas, the price per square meter reached $ 800, out of $ 25.

3- What are the expected revenues from it?

Turkish economic estimates show that the Istanbul Water Canal project will generate large financial profits for Turkey, which will compensate it for the money that the Montreux Agreement prevented from collecting.

Turkish official reports say that the parallel channel will generate about 8 billion dollars annually to Turkey, which will contribute to compensating it for the 10 billion dollars deprived of it by the reduced traffic pricing for ships crossing the Bosphorus.

The data indicate that the revenues of the new canal will cover within only two years the costs of the project, and the most important value of the canal stems from its non-compliance with the Montreux Agreement, which allows Turkey to collect 5.5 dollars for every ton of cargo and shiploads it transits daily.

4- What is its relationship to the Montreux Convention?

The canal will not be subject to the Montreux Convention, which provides for freedom of navigation in the straits of the Black Sea, including the Bosphorus.

The agreement dates back to 1936, and allows ships of the countries bordering the Black Sea free passage and presence in the Black Sea Basin, while ships of countries outside the Black Sea basin are allowed a presence for a period of 3 weeks.

Turkey bears direct responsibility for the passage of foreign ships to the Black Sea basin, and has repeatedly expressed its desire to impose more stringent measures, enabling it to control the movement of oil and other transport vessels as it "poses a threat to the environment."

The passage of warships has long been the cause of quarrels between Turkey and the signatory countries, especially Russia.

And according to Reuters quoted a former Turkish diplomat, Sinan Ulgen, the Istanbul Canal raises Moscow's concerns about its use for military purposes, and may open the door to the presence of US warships in the Black Sea.

5- Why does President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insist on the canal, and what is its relationship to the justice and economic development plan?

The canal is one of the giant projects that accompanied the emergence of the "Vision 2023" adopted by the Justice and Development Party as a medium-term plan, through which Turkey aims to occupy a position among the 10 most powerful countries in the world by the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern republic.

Erdogan had said, "They resort to all means to prevent the realization of this project, which enjoys strategic importance and which will leave its mark on the next century in Istanbul and our country," adding, "We have not and will not allow any force to prevent the implementation of the canal project."

Experts confirm that President Erdogan's insistence on the canal stems from his belief and plans that it is necessary to completely get rid of the domination of his country, and the best evidence for working hard to achieve self-sufficiency in defense industries, as the Istanbul Canal will be fully economically and politically controlled by Turkey, unlike the Bosphorus.

6- What about the warnings and disagreements about it?

Although the Turkish government says that the new canal will reduce the navigational burden on the Bosphorus, and reduce emissions and waste that may harm the surrounding archaeological and heritage areas, the opposition believes that the canal will isolate the archaeological area in Istanbul and turn it into an island.

The mayor of Istanbul, Akram Imamoglu, opposes the plans to dig the canal, describing it as a "catastrophic project that will cause an environmental massacre."

Opponents fear that the drilling operations will disturb the soil cohesion on both sides of the canal and damage the groundwater reserves, which could cause landslides and the possibility of earthquakes.

Also, a study conducted at the Turkish Haji Teba University stated that cutting down forests in the north at the Black Sea coast to dig the canal will reduce oxygen levels in the water and increase salinity, which will eventually pour into the Sea of ​​Marmara, affecting the balance of marine life and filling Istanbul's air with the smell of water. Mold.

Investments around the canal are expected to increase Istanbul's population by about 1.2 million, which contradicts government plans to keep the population of the congested city at 16 million.

7- When will the project start and end?

To this day, the Turkish official authorities have not announced a precise date for the start of excavations in the canal, but the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure confirmed that if the project begins in 2021, it will end in 2027.

At the end of 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced from the Serbian capital Belgrade that his country intends to lay the foundation stone for the "Istanbul Canal" project parallel to the Bosphorus at the beginning of 2020, but due to the state of closure that prevailed in the country as a result of the spread of the Corona epidemic, the project has not started.

Yesterday, Sunday, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adel Karah Ismailoglu, said that they are continuing to prepare for the tender for the construction of the Istanbul Water Canal very soon, without revealing more details.