Two new cities to be launched in 2012

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his party had begun initiatives to set up two new cities each with 1 million population in the Anatolian and European sides of Istanbul. The city in the European side will be established in Uskumrukoy, on the bank of the Black Sea, and will spread to 40,000 hectares. Erdogan said these cities would start to be established within a year following the June 12th general elections, and they would be on the route of the third bridge planned to be constructed on the Istanbul Strait.