Turkey opens tunnel linking Black Sea, Central Anatolia

ANKARA (AA) - A tunnel connecting Turkey’s West Black Sea region and Central Anatolia opened Monday with a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the project will produce some 40 million liras ($12 million) in savings annually.

"We will save 8.3 million liters of fuel and 345,655 hours’ driving time in a year.”

Mentioning the many traffic accidents on the existing route, Yildirim said the tunnel is also very important in saving lives.

"Lives are invaluable. Saving one person is the same as saving mankind. Hopefully this tunnel will also save lives," Yildirim said.

The tunnel will slash the travel time on the Mt. Ilgaz highway from 35 minutes to just eight, cutting the existing route by 5.4 kilometers.

The Mt. Ilgaz Tunnel boasts two tubes nearly 5,400 meters long and was constructed to connect Turkey’s western Black Sea and central Anatolia regions.

- Growth despite problems

Appearing at the opening ceremony via video, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that thanks to this project, people will be able to traverse Mt. Ilgaz safely and comfortably, avoiding the difficulties the road posed in past years, especially during winter.

"The series of inauguration ceremonies which started with the Osmangazi Bridge in June and continued with the opening of the Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge and Eurasia Tunnel recently continued with Ilgaz’s July 15 Liberty Tunnel," named after the defeat of this summer’s failed coup, Erdogan said.

"In 2002 Turkey had 83 highway tunnels. Over the last 14 years we have added 183 new tunnels to this number," Erdogan said, stressing they are fully committed to the country's 2023 centennial vision targets.

Mentioning how the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development now classifies Turkey as a high-income country, Erdogan said Turkey is set to move on despite challenges inside and outside of the country.

"Certainly we have some challenges. We did not forget the heinous July 15 coup bid. We did not forget the losses. We did not forget our martyrs and veterans. We did not forget the sacrifices made in the fight against terror," he said.

"But all of these circumstances did not change the fact that Turkey keeps developing and growing. Turkey is a country which has proved itself in being able to grow even amid security concerns."