A senior delegation from Istanbul 2020 left the London 2012 debriefing this week in Rio de Janeiro believing that Istanbul can match the technical excellence of the London Games.
The debriefing comes just after a number of major transport and tourism projects were announced in Istanbul as part of the city’s long-term development strategy.
The Istanbul 2020 team, lead by bid leader Hasan Arat, focused on fine-turning a transport concept that guarantees quick, convenient and reliable travel for all Games clients.
Work begins on Istanbul’s third airport in 2014. It will have six runways and a passenger capacity that could reach 150 million each year, and is set to be the world’s largest airport by 2020.
October 2013 will see the opening of the Halic metro across the Golden Horn, which will carry an estimated one million passengers daily.
A third road bridge across the iconic straight will be inaugurated in 2015, and the Eurasia Tunnel will open October 29, 2013, Turkey’s Republic Day. The Marmaray Rail Tunnel is also under construction.
A new metro line with a capacity of 70,000 passengers per hour in each direction was completed this year, removing 572 buses, 1227 mini-buses, and thousands of cars from the roads.
Bid leader Hasan Arat said, “Istanbul is a bustling metropolis spanning two continents – but in 2020 we will still be able to offer athletes average travel times of 20 minutes or less. These ambitious infrastructure developments show our country’s determination to deliver on all our promises to the Olympic family and match London’s organizational excellence. The strength of Turkey’s economy and the committed support from all levels of government mean we are better placed than ever to realize our vision”.
Istanbul 2020 says the city has invested an average of $1.2 billion on transport infrastructure upgrades every year for the last seven years, and billions more on general infrastructure.
Istanbul’s hotel room inventory has grown from 26,000 rooms in 2004 to 63,000. Plans to construct 18 new first class and luxury hotels in Istanbul over the next two years were recently unveiled, as the number of visitors continues to grow. It is estimated the city will have an inventory of more than 95,000 hotel rooms by 2020.
