MEGA PROJECT IN ISTANBUL FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS: GALATAPORT
Galataport, about 20 years of project design, cancellation of proposals, harmless to the history and nature and changes in the environment of recent investments mentioned.
Companies changed during this time. Cases are filed. At times it became the center of politics, causing great controversy among state powers. Some segments were declared traitors. The project, which has been a center of tension for years, is now at the final stage and these processes are forgotten. Let’s take a closer look at the project in order to understand the winners and losers and take a closer look at the mega-project period of the last 20 years.
Doğuş Group, which won the last tender, is carrying out this project in partnership with Bilgili Holding. The Galataport Project is described as a described tourism complex with with its hotels, cafes and restaurants. Ferit Şahenk, Chairman and CEO of Doğuş Group, said: “Galataport is a masterpiece of Doğuş Group. Istanbul’s past and future have never been so close to each other before.
Galataport in Numbers
- The project covers a 1.2-kilometer coastline extending from Karaköy Quay to Mimar Sinan University Fındıklı Campus and an area of 400 thousand square meters.
- 1.7 billion investment including tender price.
- 7 million foreigners and 25 million tourists are targeted each year.
- With its hotels, cafes and restaurants, the new port, known as a kompleks tourism complex ac, is expected to bring an additional 1.5 million tourists to Istanbul.
- A total of 64 flights in 2020, approximately 140 flights in 2021 Galataport Istanbul has made a reservation. Among them, Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara, Viking Cruises, Holland America Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Celestyal Cruises, Le Ponant, Silversea Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruises, Marella Cruises, Wind Star Cruises, Princess Cruises , Aida Cruises and MSC.
- A 29,000 square meter terminal was built underground.
- 30 thousand square meters of landscape area.
- There will be a parking lot for 2 thousand 300 vehicles.
EFFECTS ON HISTORY, ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
Apart from employment, tourism, the Galataport project; it has had many historical, environmental and social impacts. As the historical areas were chopped, the shore was filled and the natural environment was damaged. 1.4 kilometers of coastline was closed to the use of the people of Istanbul.
HISTORICAL EFFECTS
Istanbul in February 2017 and Turkey’s first modern passenger sea, which is the central hall of farewell and welcome Karakoy passenger demolished the central hall project.
In March 2017, the Package Post Office, the first-degree historical building, was demolished. Istanbul Modern was said to move here.
History of Demolished Buildings
Karaköy Passenger Hall was one of the original buildings of the early Republican era built in the 1940s.
Turkey’s first modern marine passenger had the distinction of being the farewell and welcoming lounge.
Its architect was Rebii Gorbon. Gibbon’s project was the winner of the Istanbul Port Passenger Hall Project Competition, opened in 1935.
Package Post Office started in 1892 during the construction of Galata Quay, 1907–1911 was built as a customs building. It then gained a function that only accepts packages and performs customs clearance.
It was a thin, tall building between the Bosphorus and Kemankeş Street. The building, which is one of the examples of early reinforced concrete buildings, had a private dome. The dome was built using highly advanced construction techniques of the period it was built. On the top cover of the dome, a natural stone slate was used.
EFFECTS ON NATURE
As a result of the illegal expansion of the construction site, the marine natural coastal ecosystem was destroyed and damaged. The construction of the project, which was canceled many times and decided to stop the execution, did not stop and continued. The area thus expanded further than originally planned. This unlawful situation was made legal by rapid changes in the law.
SOCIAL IMPACTS
The project partners who carried out an image correction and public relations campaign with explanations such as opening a 1.4-kilometer coastline to the public, which they say were closed for 200 years, actually closed the coastline to the people of Istanbul with a toll entry system and limited their use. According to the coastal law, all coastal strips belong to the public and cannot be included in private property.
WHAT THE TRADES THINK
Kemal Pekin, who has been working in Karaköy for 5 years, is looking at the project objectively and expressing his thoughts with these words:
“I think it would be a modern and big harbor in commercial terms, a nice business capacity and a nice return for the surrounding businesses. I think they will visit here again, like the 90s, whether they are abroad or guests from abroad. Environmentally, it caused a bad appearance on the most beautiful part of the throat. It affected the weather.”
