March 26 (SeeNews) - Turkey on Thursday held its first tender for Kanal Istanbul, a project that foresees the construction of a waterway parallel to the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, local media reported.
Five companies have submitted bids worth between 408,000 lira ($63,800/58,100 euro) and 550,000 lira in the tender for a contract to plan the reconstruction of the Odabasi and Dursunkoy bridges., Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The 45-kilometre canal, which will connect the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea, is estimated to cost 75 billion lira. The waterway is expected to reduce shipping traffic on the Bosphorus Strait, the report reads.
(1 euro = 7.02553 lira)