Turkey’s banks reluctant to finance Erdogan’s canal: Report

A sustainability pact that six of Turkey’s top banks signed is a barrier to funding the project, Reuters reports.

Some of Turkey’s biggest banks are reluctant to finance President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s planned Istanbul canal due to environmental concerns and the investment risks hanging over the massive construction project, four senior bankers told Reuters news agency. Two of the sources said a global sustainability pact that six of Turkey’s top banks have signed was a barrier to funding the Kanal Istanbul, which Erdogan dubbed his “crazy project” when he floated it a decade ago. The government expects to break ground in June on the canal, which would connect the Black Sea to the north with the Marmara Sea to the south and which would run 45km (28 miles) through marshland, farms and towns on the western edge of the city.