Crossing underneath the Bosphorus strait to connect Istanbul's Asian and European sides, the Eurasia Tunnel has attracted a number of high-profile investors for the completion of the project.
Istanbul-based Yapı Merkezi Construction Inc. owns 50 percent of the Eurasia Tunnel Operation Construction and Investment Co. (ATAŞ) and the remainder is under the privilege of Seoul-based SK Group. The South Korean company announced the sales of its 18-percent minority stake in the consortium to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
In 2012, the consortium obtained an 18-year loan of USD 960 million for the construction of the Eurasia Tunnel by means of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, granting it the right to operate the tunnel for 24 years starting from August 2017, when the tunnel was commissioned.
Running for a total length of 14.6 kilometers, with a 5.4-kilometer stretch of tunnel under the Bosphorus strait's seabed, the Eurasia Tunnel serves thousands of vehicles per day. The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu stated that as many as 455,746 vehicles passed through the Eurasia Tunnel from September 5 to 11, adding that the daily pass record was broken with 67,982 vehicles on September 8.