Turkey launched the construction of a third bridge over the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul with 10,000 people attending the ground breaking ceremony on Wednesday.

The grand ceremony was attended by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top government officials, who claimed it as the world's widest suspension bridge.

The proposed 1,275-meter-long suspension bridge over the Bosporus is planned to connect Garipce on the European side with the Poyrazkoy neighborhood in Beykoz on the Asian side.

The prime minister set a two-year timeline for the project to be finalized while addressing a grand gathering on the construction field in Garipceon village on the European side of Istanbul by the Black sea.

The project marks the beginning of the country's second-largest build-operate-transfer scheme to date. It is estimated to cost 6 billion U.S. dollars and aims to ease traffic in the highly congested city of nearly 15 million.

Speaking during the ceremony, Erdogan called on Turkish construction firm ICTAS and Italian construction group Astaldi, the tender winners for the project, to complete the bridge by May 29, 2015. Endi

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