The idea of constructing an artificial canal in Istanbul parallel to the Bosphorus was for the first time in the sixteenth century, and it was proposed at least seven times throughout history, starting from the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent through Sultan Murad III and Sultan Mahmud II and others, until President Erdogan announced the project when he was a prime minister in 2011.
And now, in 2021, Turkish government intends to start implementing this project and laying the foundation stone during the summer of 2021, and the canal will have the following specifications:
- The length of the channel will be 45 km, and 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 Samlar, to the Black Sea.
- The depth of the canal will be only 25 meters, and it will be 270 meters wide at the bottom and 400 meters at the surface. The digging of the canal will result in 2.5 billion cubic meters of soil, which will be used to create 3 artificial islands in the Sea of Marmara.
- The daily carrying capacity of the new channel will be a maximum of 185 ships, while 160 ships now pass through the Bosphorus strait at a maximum, knowing that the maximum capacity of the Bosphorus is less than 130 ships per day.
- The cost of building the new Istanbul Canal will be initially 10 billion dollars, and the expected completion time is 7 years.
- The agricultural lands on both sides of the canal, with an area of more than 2 million square meters, will be used in order to create two smart cities with a population capacity of up to half a million people.
What are the benefits of constructing the new Istanbul Canal?
- Reducing pressure on the Bosphorus Strait, which is overstretched, and this in turn has caused more than 460 accidents for ships transiting in the strait during the past sixty years, and no wonder about that, as every day there are more than 2000 trips between the two sides of the Bosporus for the purpose of local transportation as well as dangerous surface water currents.
- Reducing environmental pollution because the passage of large ships, especially those with dangerous loads, threatens aquatic life in the Bosphorus, according to statistics, 30% of the ships crossing the Bosphorus Strait have a dangerous load.
- Achieving an additional source of income for Turkey, as the profits of the new Istanbul Canal, if it operates at its maximum capacity, are estimated at about 8 billion dollars annually.
- An increase in the number of ships transiting Istanbul, as the Bosphorus Strait has reached its maximum capacity, and thus there is a loss of opportunities to increase the number of transiting ships if the new Istanbul Canal is not built.
- The new canal will not be subject to the Montreux Treaty signed between the countries of the Black Sea, and thus Turkey will gain greater freedom in controlling the size, type and length of ships in the Black Sea basin.
Are there any damages from the construction of the new Istanbul Canal?
The opposition party in Istanbul claimed that the construction of the Istanbul Canal will have a negative impact in terms of changing the topography of Istanbul and thus this will increase the likelihood of earthquakes and groundwater imbalances, and also the establishment of smart cities on both sides of the canal will lead to an increase in the population of one million and 200 thousand people for a city that is already overcrowded, ignoring that more than 56 international institutions, including more than 200 scientists, have assessed the risks and given environmental approval to carry out the project.
There are also environmental risks, according to the opposition's opinion, as logging in the Black Sea area will lead to a decrease in the percentage of fresh air, and this will also lead to an increase in the salinity of the water in the Sea of Marmara, which will negatively affect marine life there.
In addition, the cost of this project, according to the opposition’s opinion, will be a great burden on Turkey and the citizens in the absence of a clear financing plan for the project.
In fact, a huge project such as the New Istanbul Canal cannot be totally risk-free, but in terms of the balance between benefits and risks, the benefits appear to be much greater and their realization guaranteed, similar to the risks that are assumptions that may or may not arise.
Now we come to the most important question for investors: What is the impact of the Istanbul Canal project on real estate investment?
In fact, it cannot be denied that getting a property with a view of the modern Istanbul Canal will be very affordable compared to real estate with views of the Bosphorus, but there are several basic things that must be discussed here:
- The Bosphorus Strait has a very great historical importance, far from being the only waterway separating the continents of Asia and Europe, and thus the archaeological areas that the Bosphorus has on its banks, no artificial channel can match it in importance or beauty.
- If we compared the aesthetic of the Bosphorus as a water view with the Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea, or even the Mediterranean in the Turkish south, we will find that the sea views will have a more beautiful extension and waves that give the soul comfort and safety, while in the Bosphorus there is no wide water extension, not even waves, but the Bosphorus is a unique painting on the globe that is dividing the continents of Asia and Europe and is not characterized by the water in it, but by the history and nobility in every palace or house overlooking the Bosphorus, which gives it a very high value and a high demand that makes the large real estate prices on the banks of the Bosphorus start from a million dollars down to real estate that cannot be valued for a sum of money in the first place.
- The Istanbul Canal project began to be talked about in earnest since 2011 and we are today in 2021 and the project has not started yet. Assuming that it really was started during the summer of 2021, this project needs 7 years to be fully completed at least and therefore there will be no project on the banks of the new Istanbul Canal, before this period, at best. A period of 7 years is a period equal to two investment courses in the concept of real estate investment in Istanbul, as it is possible to buy a property in a project under construction and resell it after 3 years and obtain profits of 100% of the capital and repeat this process a second time, thus obtaining 200% of the capital after about 7 years ago, and by that time the investment opportunities on both sides of the Istanbul Canal would be ripe and they could start.
If you want to get acquainted with investment opportunities, you can achieve 100% profit within 3 years, contact our consulting team for free to be informed of the best opportunities available at the moment of your question.
We hear daily from clients who want to postpone their real estate investment in order to obtain properties with a view of the new Istanbul Canal, and this in fact, as we mentioned above, is currently wasting time, and time as we know for the investor means money.
Istanbul is a very active city in the field of real estate investment and therefore at all times there are distinct opportunities and the important thing in it is to start as soon as possible to get the greatest benefit, we always recommend real estate investment near the center of Istanbul because the demand is high in that area and thus facilitates the completion of the real estate investment at the right time for the investor and starting a new project.
Be sure that when the time is right to obtain a profitable real estate investment near the new Istanbul Canal, Right Home will be at the forefront of consulting companies that will advise its clients to obtain a successful investment in the best projects that will be established there.
