ANKARA: The Environment Ministry has approved a plan for a new port project in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district, Zeyport, which had previously been cancelled by the Council of State over urban planners’ concerns.
The ministry has ratified the plan for a cruise and yacht port, which will be built on a 1,470,000-square-meter area and will allow the construction of buildings up to 5.5 meters high.
Land will also be reclaimed to extend the area of the project, which was suspended after a Council of State ruling ordering its cancelation.
The original design of the project developed by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality was objected to by the Chamber of Urban Planners on the grounds that it would “spoil the silhouette of Istanbul’s historical peninsula, raise the housing ratio in the area, and not have enough green space.”
The project was awarded in 2006 to joint venture of Turkish companies Rönesans and Koçhan for 49 years, in a 16.5 million-Turkish Lira tender.
The first plans had foreseen the building of hotel and commercial centers 30 to 50 meters high, but after the chamber filed a lawsuit against the project, contractors made changes to the initial design, taking the objections into consideration.
