Economic Journalists Association (EGD) and Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yıldırım

Members of the Economy Journalists Association (EGD) met with the Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yıldırım on 21 April 2012. Lightning During the meeting, describing the activities of the Ministry between the years 2003-2011, Turkey, Europe, Russia, Asia, the Caucasus, said he found at a crossroads between the Middle East and Africa. "Turkey is going in parallel with GDP growth of world trade development. This shows that Turkey is a global power, "said Lightning, affected by the contraction in world trade experienced in Turkey be noted that the minimum level. Transport and communication sector's share in GDP of 14,9 percent, Yıldırım said that out of the total public expenditure to 46 per cent over the Ministry "Transportation, Turkey's growth has attracted a task is not up and down. Turkey's current development was supposed to ensure the growth of transportation. The total amount of transportation and communication investments between 2003 and 2012 was 123 billion TL. Build-operate-transfer investments gradually increase in the resource allocation of the 9 billion TL investment made in 123 years. We also wanted to reduce the burden of the budget while investing. We made 86 percent of the investments from the public and 14 percent through the build-operate-transfer model. In order to ease the burden of the budget… 65% of our investments were made by highways, 18% by railways, 11% by communication, 4% by airways and 2% by seaways. Our government cares about railways. We initiated investments to eliminate negligence and forgetfulness of railways. We have increased our investments in railways since 2003. There is also employment provided by related and related institutions and organizations affiliated to the Ministry. The number of people directly employed is 94 thousand. The number of indirectly employed is 122 thousand ”. Stating that the price development in transportation and communication services has a nature to reduce inflation, Yıldırım said that despite the steady increase in inflation in railway, airline, bridge fees and mobile call fees, there has not been a steady increase and said, “We are a ministry that grabs the inflation by its hair rather than upwards and pulls it downwards. the internet is not expensive when used in Turkey, "he said.

It gave special importance to the Government of the divided highway and 72 percent of the total path of divided highway investments that create investment expressing Yildirim said that Turkey has become used on each side of the divided highway. Lightning split path length of 9,5 years, noting that 6 thousand from 21 thousand 300 kilometers to go, they work, taking into account Turkey's needs in 2023 and said that these principles go out the growth. Referring to the fuel and labor savings provided by the divided roads, Yıldırım explained that approximately 38 billion lira of income paid from the total income of the highways constituted 2011 percent of the national budget of 13,23.Yıldırım said that from the first years of the Republic to 1950, an average of 134 kilometers of railways were built annually. He noted that this figure dropped to an annual average of 1951 from 2003 to 18, but increased to 2003 kilometers with investments since 135. “Railways have become a state policy again. In 2003, there was an investment of 235 million lira. The budget we allocated for railways in 2012 is 4 billion 212 million TL. High-speed trains of highways in Turkey with the realization did not come to 750 thousand traffic. In 2002, 16 companies were transporting railways with 789 wagons, while in 2012, 45 companies were operating in the sector with 2 thousand 870 wagons. The private sector's shipments increased from 2002 thousand tons in 982 to 2011 million tons in 7,3. In addition, we are now engaging the private sector. On the railways, it will now transport on the rails that take the train. It will give you money per kilometer. Whatever it carries, we will not interfere with it. We are developing the domestic railway industry. Factories are established to develop the railway supplier industry, ”he said.

Expressing that the turnover in the aviation sector has increased by 2003 percent and employment by 596 percent since 133, Yıldırım said that the aircraft traffic of airports has also increased, while 2003 million citizens flew on domestic flights in 9, the number of passengers increased to 2011 million by the end of 58,3. and stated that it reached 118 million. Yıldırım stated that the commercial aircraft fleet increased to 351 in this process, and that 26 new flight points were added to 9 flight points in 21 years. Stating that 2003 billion dollars of freight was transported by sea in 61,5 and that this figure increased to 2011 billion by the end of the year in 207, Yıldırım stated that the number of passengers on seaways increased to 100 million per 157 million, but this figure did not satisfy them. Underlining that their satisfaction is the increase in cruise tourism, Yıldırım said, “The number of passengers increased by 276 percent and the number of ships by 83 percent. This number will increase even more at the end of the works carried out in Izmir and Istanbul. The number of vehicles transported on regular routes abroad by Ro-Ro ships increased by 2003 percent at the end of 2011 compared to 50. As of 2011, 330 thousand vehicles were transported on regular Ro-Ro lines connected to abroad. IDO is the largest company in its field in the world. It is the company that carries the most passengers and vehicles. The world's 30 largest countries governing maritime transport from the 15th Annual Turkey. In addition, our country has risen to the 5rd place after Italy and the Netherlands in the yacht building ranking, which was 3th in the world last year ”.

Yıldırım stated that the total revenues of the IT sector, which was 2003 billion dollars in 11,5, are estimated to exceed 2011 billion dollars in 31 and that the figure is aimed to reach 2012 billion dollars in 34. Pointing out the aspects of the internet that make human life easier, Yıldırım noted that things are done quickly and efficiently thanks to the internet, and that many changes have taken place thanks to social media. “In the past, the nuclear family consisted of mothers, fathers and children. Now it has become composed of mother, father, children, internet and mobile phone ”. Reminding that every drug has side effects as well as its benefits, Yıldırım drew attention to the negative comments on people, institutions and organizations on social media. Saying that “The information and communication technologies sector has the characteristic of being the locomotive for all other sectors”, Yıldırım emphasized that the annual turnover of the sector has increased nearly four times in the last 10 years. Saying that it is not right to call information and communication technologies a sector, that this technology is a lifestyle, Yıldırım said that technology works for everyone and that the place of information in human life is increasing day by day. “We established a mobile base station for disasters and emergencies. We reserve 4A of Turkey. 25 mobile base station with satellite transmission with roaming feature is kept ready in each region. We established these stations so that communication would not be interrupted when there is an earthquake or a disaster. This system was activated in the Van earthquake and it worked perfectly ”.

Referring to the services of PTT, which is under the Ministry, Yıldırım said that PTT provides service to its customers 7/24 by putting its ATMs into service. “PTT is currently the largest bank in monetary terms. It has agreements with many banks, institutions and organizations. All kinds of transactions are done. More than 300 transactions are being processed. While a monthly average of 2003 million transactions were made in the post offices in 8, this number has exceeded 24 million today. As for satellites, our satellites had an occupancy rate of 2004 percent in 55, and reached 2012 percent in 91,5. Currently, local and foreign TV channels are waiting in line. Now we pressed the button to make the local satellite. Türksat is building a factory to manufacture satellites. At the same time, 2 satellites are currently being built in Japan. We will make our third satellite jointly with the Japanese in Japan. Fourth of ourselves, we will produce entirely in Turkey. The number of users in the e-government application is constantly increasing. More than 387 thousand people have used the e-government application. We see here that technology has no age. While the number of motor vehicles was 2001 million in 7, it reached 2011 million 16 thousand in 089. In short, the number of vehicles has increased by 10 percent in the last 119 years. Despite this increase in the number of vehicles, road defects, which were 1995 percent in 1,51 and 2000 percent in 0,77, have decreased to 0,28 percent as of today ”.

Stating that the Istanbul Open Air Museum is the work of the Marmaray excavations, Yıldırım said that more than 2003 thousand people have been given the certificate of amateur seafarer since 100, by making facilitating arrangements in the legislation, the lighthouses existing in the maritime have been evaluated, and the lighthouses have been turned into libraries and tourist sites. On a question about the Sirkeci project, Minister Yıldırım said, “Sirkeci is bypassed when Marmaray is activated. The first exit is from Yenikapı. There is no rail system between Sirkeci and Yenikapı. In this context, Sirkeci will be evaluated as a project in the historical peninsula, Topkapı Palace, Gülhane Park. It will be made by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. "We will not do it."

1. Upon a question about the bridge tender, Minister Yıldırım reminded that there are 13 companies that received files for the tender, 6 offers were received and 4 of them were considered valid. Stating that they changed the scope of the project before the tender, they turned the 10 billion lira project into a 4-4,5 billion lira project, Yıldırım said, “We reduced the volume of the project. We took the bridge and the 100-kilometer highway, we undertook the others ourselves. Second, we slightly increased the vehicle warranties. Not aphakic, we reviewed the numbers we lived in, and increased them as we think it would be realistic. We have a loss of 3,5 billion lira of workforce and fuel from vehicles passing through the first and second bridges. '3. what do you need a bridge? ' they say. The answer is here. Red all around. (Traffic density map) Although today is Saturday… What will this be, it will be able to pay off even before 1,5-2 years. We will not have traffic problems there. I'm trying to say it. There is also a railway on this bridge. We also introduced VAT exemption. They tried to get the VAT exemption here and there. There is no tax loss here. The man will do it in 4 years, spend 4 quadrillion, find financing for 600-700 million VAT. In other words, it will find a financing to fund the state. This increases the financial cost. What is it doing, let's say we gave 10 years of operation time. It will be deducted from the VAT there. Now there is no need for this embarrassment. From the very beginning we say 'we do not buy it, brother.' By adding all of these, the project could be financed and feasible in a shorter time and therefore the proposal came. I don't know what will come out yet, but the offer came. There was enough competition, ”he said. Stating that there is no Turkish firm bidding on its own, Yıldırım said, “This is not a new thing, but also for the Izmir project of the Istanbul Izmit crossing, which is a bigger project, a proposal from the Turkish consortium again in March 11, when the global crisis was the most intense. we got. This shows that; There is now a strong political power in Turkey, there is stability, there is trust. Now Turkey is not tomorrow, it can be invested in the following 2009 years. We have become that ”he said.

When asked about the closure of the Bosphorus Bridge during the storm that occurred the other day, Yıldırım said, “Bridges have a safe working conditions. The bridge works up to a certain wind load. It is necessary to close up from a certain wind load. Here it was 128 km. We had to turn it off. If we hadn't turned it off, if we had a resonance, God wouldn't show it, hundreds of thousands of vehicles and people on it… We could not endanger their safety. This is a measure. This measure also exists in aviation. There are measures such as if the crosswind goes above the value, it will not take off. These are measures for safety. "They are the standards applied for every vehicle."

On a question about the Yıldırım Çaycuma accident, he said, “15 of our citizens lost their lives in the Çaycuma accident. Some were found, and the bodies of some others could not be reached. Studies are continuing uninterruptedly. The thing here is; A bridge built in 1951. Later, the controls of this bridge were made continuously. Their maintenance has also been done. And then we built another bridge in 2009 upon request. This time, the new bridge is actually a bridge that will handle all the traffic. They made one coming and one going. It was transferred to the municipality, but its maintenance continued by the Highways. This subject is being studied, I gave instructions. Administrative investigation continues. The judicial investigation continues at the prosecutor's office. The first determination is that when sand was taken from different parts of the river, pits were formed. When the snow waters melted, the flow of the incoming water increased to 1000 tons per second due to these pits. Moving forward with those hollows, he carved the pile part of the bridge up to 5 meters under the platform where the piles were sitting. With so much water, there was a total collapse. There is nothing in the materials. The iron or something is intact. They still couldn't. They couldn't cut it. So solid but not collapse from the bottom. The bridge collapsed when the pile system flooded. In short, the investigation and investigation continues ”. Yıldırım stated that all kinds of issues related to the grievances of citizens who lost their lives in the Çaycuma accident were addressed in the crisis center created by AFAD.

Minister Yıldırım, upon asking about the 2023 targets of the IT sector, stated that informatics is a game changer and said, “Neither statistics fit, when planning fits. Time and numbers also deny you. Your predictions are insufficient. As we speak here, you can be sure that something new has been found. Of course, the Ministry of Science, Industry, Technology, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Education are stakeholders. TUBITAK, there are universities. “The secret of this business is innovation”. Underlining the need to focus a lot on this work, Yıldırım said, “We need to support R&D activities a lot. The share of R&D studies in the budget increased from 0,4 percent to 0,9 percent, but it is not enough, our 2023 target is 2,5 percent. We foresee that the turnover in the field of informatics will be 160 billion. I think you will get above that. We were predicting 30 million broadband subscriptions, it has already grown to 18 million. Our target for 2015 was 15 million. Maybe we'll need to reconsider it. Turkey will be developed through informatics, the future will come through IT, "he said.

"What kind of measures are taken to eliminate the density at Atatürk Airport?" Stating that they made improvements in the air and park sides to improve the traffic, Yıldırım said, “Traffic has increased 4 times. Ataturk Airport is currently making more than 50 percent of the traffic it needs to lift. With what did we achieve this? We rebuilt the 0523 track and we increased the capacity there. We reviewed and renewed the navigation systems. We have taken some special measures. We are currently getting over 1000 traffic. It is 1070-180 a day. In fact, its maximum limit is 600. It was 35-40 o'clock, now it's 70 days. So neither can a new track be built there, neither is the solution. Let's say we built a new track. Minimum 5 billion dollars… The remedy is; We are working to improve traffic a little more. Some of the delays are related to the park. We will use the area used by the military for the park. We'll be making improvements on the navigation side, but they're all partial improvements. We will direct some planes to other sides. We will provide more opportunities for scheduled flights. These are measures that will relieve a little in the short and medium term, but the traffic increase is so brutal that we cannot keep up with it. Solution; He said, "We will put out a tender for the 3rd airport this year." Minister Yıldırım, regarding the suspension of the Istanbul-Ankara train services due to the high speed train works, said: “The operation of a single line is technically not possible in terms of safety, but this is temporary. "We are removing it in 2 lines, not 3." Yıldırım added that the highway tube crossing tunnel will begin to be excavated at the end of this year and will be completed in 2015.