A new urban area that will soon be home to some 1.5 million people will be built in Istanbul. Officials say the construction for this new area is going to start in the next six months, on the Black Sea coast on the European side of Istanbul, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
According to the news, the area will consist of four different settlements with specified urban functions, and its borders have been established through a protocol signed at the end of 2012 by the Turkish Transportation Ministry, the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry, the Housing Settlement Administration (TOKİ) and the Emlak Konut real estate investment trust (REIT), a subsidiary of TOKİ.
According to government statements, this new urban area aims to become a health tourism center which will include a biomedical scientific park and health campuses with accommodation facilities and research and development centers.
This new city area will be very close to the new airport that will be built in Istanbul by 2017 and will become world’s largest airport. As Turkey wants to host 2020 Olympic Games, another part of Istanbul development is an Olympic village which will also be constructed near the new city. This village is intended to be repurposed as university and urban service areas following the Olympic Games.
From the looks of it, Turkey is really on the wave of attracting new tourists for a long period of time. Apart from announcing the plans for the big airport, Turkey mentioned that it plans to launch 69 new tourist areas this year.