Marmaray Project - Foreign Loan Agreement Signed

ISTANBUL - An agreement on a foreign loan of 941 million U.S. dollars provided by Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) to finance construction of the Istanbul Strait Underwater Crossing section of the 'Marmaray (public transportation) Project', was signed on Friday.
Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, Japanese Ambassador to Turkey Tomoyuki Abe, JBIC Vice President Yoshihiko Morita and Turkish Treasury Undersecretary Ibrahim Canakci attended the signing ceremony.
The loan will be repaid within 30 years in six-month installments after a ten-year grace period.
Marmaray Project will connect Istanbul's Asian and European sides with an underwater tunnel under the Istanbul Strait.
The project is envisaged to be completed in 2008 and the estimated cost would be nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars.
Marmaray includes a 13.3 km Istanbul Strait crossing and upgrading of 63 km of suburban line to create a 76.3 km high capacity line between Gebze and Halkali. The Istanbul Strait crossing will be a 1.8 km earthquake-proof immersed tube. This tube will be accessed by bored tunnels from Yenikapi on the European side, and Sogutlucesme on the Asian side of Istanbul. Intermediate stations will be done at Sirkeci and Uskudar. An interchange station with Istanbul metro and light rail will be built at Yenikapi.