Urgent expropriation decree for lands on Canal İstanbul route

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has issued an urgent expropriation decree for the Nakkaş-Başakşehir part of the Northern Marmara Highway project.

The mentioned part of the project covers some neighborhoods in the districts of Arnavutköy, Avcılar, Başakşehir, Büyükçekmece and Çatalca, which are also on the Canal İstanbul route, daily Cumhuriyet reported.

Canal İstanbul is a planned artificial waterway running parallel to the Bosphorus strait.

The lands to be expropriated are mostly agricultural lands while some are residential and business areas, according to Cumhuriyet.

Nadir Ataman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), a member of the İstanbul Municipal Council, noted that a groundbreaking ceremony for a bridge on the same route took place on June 26.

"Despite all the social opposition, the government continues to be stubborn about Canal İstanbul. This month, they will publicize the implementation of article 18 of the Zoning Law. this means that they will lodge a tender soon," he said.

They have heard that the government is also preparing to pass a new law that will include "the largest incentives in history" for those who will undertake the canal project.

The opposition, environmentalists and scientists have opposed the canal project since Erdoğan first announced it in 2011, citing economic and environmental concerns.

Canal İstanbul

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mentioned the planned canal for the first time as "my crazy project" in 2011, when he was still the prime minister.

The basic information as to the project was shared with the public at a press conference in Haliç Congress Center in 2011. The plan foresaw an artificial sea-level waterway that would connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The most important aspect of the project was the integration of transportation. The construction of 3rd Bosphorus bridge foreseen by the project has been completed.

In May 2016, 32 articles of 20 laws were amended. An additional article added to the Pasture Law has paved the way for the region's zoning for construction.

With another amendment introduced to the law, it has been understood that the access roads to the Canal İstanbul will be toll roads.

Ahmet Arslan, the then Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications, announced the route of the project in 2018. He said that the canal would form an artificial waterway from the Black Sea to Marmara Sea, covering 45 kilometers from Küçükçekmece Lake through Küçükçekmece-Sazlıdere-Durusu corridor.

The process of Environmental Impact Assessment

The Board of Inspection and Survey of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report of the Canal İstanbul project on December 23, 2019.

Accordingly, the report was presented to the public at the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and İstanbul Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization for 10 days. The citizens submitted petitions of objection against the project within this period.

On January 17, 2020, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum announced that they approved the EIA report of Canal İstanbul.

(SO/VK)