RIZE, Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday that Turkey's groundbreaking Mount Ovit Tunnel will come into service in late 2017.
During his speech at the ceremony at Mount Ovit in northeastern Turkey, Yildirim said: "When we complete it, the tunnel will be the world's second longest tunnel."
The Turkish prime minister added that the cost of the tunnel amounted to 1.1 billion Turkish liras ($351 million).
Binali Yildirim also said that the project boasted 14-kilometer-long twin tunnel (8.7 miles) as well as snow and avalanche tunnels.
The tunnel cuts through Mount Ovit and connects the Ikizdere district of the northeastern Rize province and the Ispir district of the eastern province of Erzurum.
The tunnel's lowest point is located at one extremity at 1,919 meters of altitude and its highest at the other end at an altitude of 2,236 meters.
The tunnel will shorten the 250-kilometer-long Rize-Erzurum highway to 200 and will allow residents of the eastern Turkish provinces to reach the Black Sea faster.
*Reporting by Mumin Altas, Selma Kasap, Ferdi Turkten; Writing by Can Erozden,Sibel Ugurlu
