Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has taken another important step in the path of achieving its ecological recovery goal that will take the Gulf back “80 years” in time.

An international tender will start on February 27 for projects related to dredging of the Gulf and creating natural life islands. When the operations on the Gulf are completed, we will cover a long distance in achieving the ecological recovery goal.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality aims to achieve a “swimmable” Gulf once again by preventing shoaling and thus completed the tender preparations following EIA permit obtained for the “Izmir Gulf and Port Rehabilitation Project”. IZSU (General Directorate of İzmir Water and Sewerage Administration) has organized a tender for opening a 13.5-kilometer long, 250-meter wide and 8-meter depth circulation channel on the north axis of the Gulf as well as transferring 25-million cubic meter dredging material to be removed from the channel to recovery site near Çiğli Waste Water Treatment Facility and transferring the dredged material to the natural life islands using the optimum method and preparing island design and island application projects. After the consulting services tender to be held on February 27, the company awarded with the tender will prepare the projects and deliver them to IZSU within a period of one year.  

We are going out to a consulting services tender considering the size and special criteria of this project that will be implemented in Turkey for the first time as well as significantly contributing to the environment and for working with expert party or parties having national and international experience in particular in dredging works and island applications. This tender shall determine the dredging method and design a project for transferring the dredged materials to the recovery site and natural life islands with the optimum method. Also, this process will give us the design and application projects related to natural life islands. Right after this process, we are hoping to start dredging works on the circulation channel depending on the building of natural life islands after the tender for construction works. 

The navigation channel to be opened by the Turkish State Railways along the south axis will allow entry of clean water into the Gulf and the circulation channel to be built on the north axis by the Metropolitan Municipality will increase the current velocity in this region. This project will improve water quality and biological diversity. The capacity of Izmir Port will be increased and it will achieve the status of a master port by serving new generation ships.