Turkish PM starts building of Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

Friday, 29 October 2010

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday laid the foundation of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

"Today, we are giving start to one of the biggest projects of the Republican history. This big project crowns the Republic, which the Turkish nation will celebrate the 87th anniversary on October 29. This is a Republic Day present to our people," Erdogan said while addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway.

"We are laying the foundation of a very big project which will link the two big cities of Turkey, Istanbul and Izmir," Erdogan said and noted that the distance between the two cities will reduce to 3.5-4 hours after the motorway was concluded.

Erdogan said construction of a three-km suspension bridge would also start, adding that, "this will be the second longest suspension bridge in the world after Akashi Bridge in Japan."

Erdogan said 50,000 people would be employed during the construction period, and noted that this would also have a positive impact on construction sector. "The cost of the project is 11 billion Turkish Lira and planned to be concluded in seven years. I believe that it will be concluded less than seven years thanks to the efforts of the consortium."

The motorway will connect Gebze town of the northwestern province of Izmit with the Aegean province of Izmir via Orhangazi town of the northwestern province of Bursa and another northwestern province, Balikesir.

Earlier this month, Cahit Turhan, the director general of the General Directorate of Highways, said the contracting firm was eager to first open the Gebze-Bursa and Izmir-Manisa sections of the motorway to traffic, and complete the construction of the bridge on Izmit Gul in three and a half years.

The directorate had opened a number of tenders for construction of the motorway, including a Izmit Gulf suspension bridge and by-ways, and Nurol-Ozaltin-Astalsi-Yuksel-Gocay consortium won the last tender for construction and operation of the motorway for 22 years and four months.

The Bursa-Balikesir-Izmir will be 420 kilometers long, and there will be a 3,000-meter-long suspension bridge on the Izmit Gulf.

Within the framework of the project, 30 viaducts, 4 tunnels, 209 bridges, 18 booths, 5 highway maintenance-operation centers as well as 7 service and park areas will be constructed.

It will take only two-and-a-half or three hours to travel between Bursa and Izmir after the motorway is inaugurated.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=65715.