The Turkish government has said work will begin next year on a new canal in Istanbul to cut Bosporus shipping traffic.
Turkish media cited transport and infrastructure minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan as saying the project will take five years.
The waterway will have a service life of at least 100 years.
A total of 10 new bridges and a new port will also be constructed.
The 43km canal will be 25 metres deep and 400 metres wide.
It will allow between 150 and 160 vessels to transit per day.
Kanal Istanbul will transform the European half of the city into an island, with the waterway linking the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara.
The canal will run from the Durusu region on Istanbul’s Black Sea coast to Kucukcekmece Lake on the Sea of Marmara.
The plan first emerged in 2011, with work at one time mooted for 2013.
