Canal Istanbul post-election priority, Turkey's Erdoğan heralds

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday the first initiative of his government after winning elections would be the construction of Canal Istanbul, an artificial sea-level waterway that will connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

Once completed, it will reduce shipping traffic, particularly oil tanker traffic, passing through the Bosphorus Strait.
Canal Istanbul will be 45.2 kilometers long, and will extend through Istanbul's Avcılar, Küçükçekmece, Başakşehir, and Arnavutköy districts.

The cost of the project is estimated at 65 billion Turkish liras ($16 billion). The construction will employ more than 6,000 people and 1,500 people will be employed in the operation phase. Approximately 1.5 billion cubic meters of earth will be excavated and more than 115 million cubic meters of material will come from the sea and bottom screening.

Addressing a large crowd at the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's women congress in Istanbul, Erdoğan also said: "We want our women to be more active, more engaged, and be represented in higher numbers in politics and the Parliament."

Speaking about the upcoming snap polls, he said Istanbul with its nearly 9.5 million voters will be a major player.

Last week, Turkey's parliament passed a bill calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24.