Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan announced the preliminary qualification process, for technical and financial offers regarding the research bid for a three-level tunnel in Istanbul have been received. The financial bids of three companies who had been evaluated as technically competent on the 26.07.2016 will be opened on the 10.08.2016. The company to score the highest mark from the tender evaluation committee in technical and financial terms will have won the tender. The winning company will be invited to sign a contract for the preparation of tender dossiers regarding the project's offshore drilling, mapping, routes and build-operate-transfer works. With this kind of public-private-partnership scheme, the state will not pay anything. The tender will be held after approval is received from the Higher Planning Council. No public resources will be used for the financing of this project which will be actualized through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
The 6.5 km-long tunnel will cost $3.5 billion and will be comprised of one rail system between two highways. The diameter of the three-level tunnel will be 16.8 m and the tunnel will be built 110 m under the sea. The water depth in the area that the tunnel will cross under the Bosphorus will be 60-65 m.
Fire detection and alarm systems and surveillance cameras will be placed all along its length as well as waiting spots every 500 m.
The railway level of the tunnel will also be equipped with automatic signaling and auto-deceleration and acceleration systems.
The new tunnel will be located between the First Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge - also known as the Second Bridge – Erdoğan. The tunnel will reduce to 14 minutes the travel time between the Arnavutkoy district on the European side and Kucuksu district on the Anatolian side, where the tunnel exits will be built.
The tunnel will be integrated into the TEM, E5 and North Marmara highways through nine subway lines. When the project is put into service, commuters will be able to go from İncirli on Istanbul's European side all the way to Söğütlüçeşme on the city's Asian side in 30 minutes via a 31-kim high-speed subway line that will have 14 stations.
Istanbul's first sub-sea tunnel project, Marmaray, opened on October 29, 2013. The second, the Eurasia Tunnel ("Avrasya Tüp Tüneli" in Turkish) is on its way: the double-deck tunnel will cross the Bosphorous strait undersea, connecting Kazlıçeşme district on the European side of Istanbul with Göztepe district on the Asian side through a 14.6 km route. It is planned to be opened in December 2016.
Istanbul's third new underwater passageway project, whose name has not yet been announced, is also aimed to relieve the city's intense traffic. For further information on the project visit http://www.udhb.gov.tr/images/kurumsal/3kbit.pdf and http://www.dailysabah.com/. 31/16.
