689,2 Billion TL Investment in Highways

Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, underlined that the total number of additional transit documents exchanged in 2021 exceeded 80 thousand and said, “We have strengthened Turkey's ties with the world, we have gained a logistical claim. We have strengthened our road transportation network with infrastructure works, and we have attached great importance to legal regulations that will prevent the turmoil in the sector and provide solutions.

Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, who came together with the management of the International Transporters Association in Istanbul, said, “We have made our country a logistics superpower in the international arena, as well as carrying economic vitality, production, employment, education, health, social and cultural development to every corner of the country. Turkey is a European, Asian, Balkan, Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Black Sea country at the same time with its geographical location and historical continuity. It has a very important geostrategic and geopolitical location that connects three continents.”

Stating that Turkey is a natural bridge in the east-west corridor between Asia and Europe, it is also in the middle of the north-south corridors stretching from the Caucasus countries and Russia to Africa, Karaismailoğlu continued as follows:

“With a 4-hour flight, we are at the center of 1 countries where 650 billion 38 million people live, with a Gross National Product of 7 trillion dollars and a trade volume of 45 trillion 67 billion dollars. Only the annual trade volume between China and the European Union is around 700 billion dollars and our country is the most important transit route of this huge volume. Based on our geostrategic position, it is indispensable for Turkey to redefine our transportation and communication strategies in the light of global and regional conditions and to keep these strategies up-to-date at all times.”

ROAD TRANSPORTATION, THE PUSHING POWER OF OUR ECONOMY

Based on this fact for the last 19 years, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Karaismailoğlu noted that they have been carrying out works in line with the future vision of Turkey, whose face has been enlightened by investments in the field of transportation and communication. We are working to make our industry more competitive in the world. The road transport sector, which has an important share in the execution of import and export activities, has always been a driving force that constitutes the backbone of our economy. In addition to being an economic activity in itself, road transport, which directly affects all other sectors, touches our 84 million people, from the manufacturer to the exporter, from the sole truck owner to the fleet owner, from the tire supplier to the spare part manufacturer, the restaurateur.

Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport, said, “While we were building our comfortable and safe roads that encircle Turkey, we also strengthened our country's ties with the world, and gained a logistical claim,” and stressed that dominance was declared on world trade routes.

689,2 BILLION TL INVESTMENT IN HIGHWAYS

Emphasizing that every day one step closer to the targets set for the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Karaismailoğlu made the following assessments:

“I sincerely believe that our investments in highways will form the most important pillar in our path to becoming one of the largest economies in the world. We know that the solution of every problem experienced in road transport makes significant contributions to our country's exports and employment. As we strengthened our physical infrastructure on the roads, we also attached great importance to the legal infrastructure works that will regulate the road transport sector. In 19 years, we invested over 1 trillion 119 billion liras in our country's transportation and communication infrastructure, and we spent 689,2 billion liras, or 62 percent, on the development of our highways. Thanks to our investments, we have largely solved the infrastructure and superstructure problems in both the east-west corridors and the north-south axes.”

WE INCREASED THE DIVIDED ROAD NETWORK TO 28 KM

Emphasizing that they increased the existing 2003 thousand 6 kilometers of divided road network before 101 to 28 thousand 339 kilometers, Karaismailoğlu noted that they also increased the length of the highway to 3 thousand 532 kilometers.

Providing information about the investments made on the highways, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu said, “We have completed the Istanbul-İzmir Highway including the Osmangazi Bridge, the Northern Marmara Highway including the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the Ankara-Niğde Highway and the Menemen Çandarlı Highways. . By completing the Ankara-Niğde Highway, we established an uninterrupted highway connection of 230 kilometers from Edirne to Şanlıurfa. Our works for the construction of 1915 kilometers of highway on the Aydın-Denizli Highway, the Nakkaş- Başakşehir Section of the North Marmara Highway and the Kınalı-Tekirdağ-Çanakkale-Savaştepe Highway, including the 309 Çanakkale Bridge, are continuing. While we are building our roads in order to save fuel, create alternatives that cause less harm to the environment, and establish economic vitality and logistics mobility, we also continue our efforts to expand smart transportation systems.

WE ATTACHED GREAT IMPORTANCE TO LEGAL REGULATIONS

Karaismailoğlu said, "We have strengthened our road transportation network with infrastructure works, and we have given great importance to legal regulations that will prevent chaos in the sector and provide solutions," said Karaismailoğlu, and implemented important practices to eliminate unsystematicity, to make road transport efficient and competitive in the international arena, and to increase the quality in the sector. stated that they had.

Reminding that they immediately put into effect the regulations such as the Road Transport Law and the Vocational Qualification Regulation simultaneously with the land infrastructure investments, Karaismailoğlu noted that they also brought qualification requirements to those who will do this job professionally.

WE HAVE DISCOUNTED CLOSE TO 60 PERCENT ON AUTHORIZATION CERTIFICATE FEES

Explaining that they offer the opportunity to perform many transactions via e-Government, Karaismailoğlu continued his speech as follows:

“Thus, you have the opportunity to save both your time and effort and your costs. With the Road Transport Regulation, which was re-released in 2018, we reduced the authorization certificate fees by nearly 60 percent. We have fully integrated our industry into the international transport system. Following the EU membership process of our country and the developments in the world, we have implemented new regulations that determine the conditions for entry to the road transport market and the profession, in line with the European Union legislation, and based on institutionalization. We have achieved 95 percent compliance with EU legislation in terms of content. Thus, road transport has become one of the most ready sectors in the EU candidacy process. As a result of our work; Our country's proximity to global markets, its competitive advantage in production and labor costs, its experience in international transportation and the fact that the sector is based on solid institutional foundations have provided significant benefits to our country in the field of logistics and transportation.

WHILE LIFE STOPPED DURING THE PANDEMIC, TRANSPORTATION NEVER STOPED

Noting that the transporters carry out international transport to nearly 70 countries by road, Karaismailoğlu said, “It is extremely important to maintain the dynamism in the sector that all these studies and regulations are revised according to the current conditions and in line with the needs of the transporters. Due to the Kovid-2020 epidemic, which has been affecting the world since the beginning of 19, we have experienced a period of contraction in almost all world economies. Undoubtedly, the area affected by this contraction was the transportation sector. In this difficult period, we supported all our transporters with the regulations we put into practice as the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. While life stopped during the pandemic process, transportation never stopped.

THE NUMBER OF VEHICLES AUTHORIZED WAS 16% INCREASE

Emphasizing that Turkey continues to increase its exports with its strong road sector while the container crisis is being experienced all over the world, Karaismailoğlu stated that even in these difficult days, international road transport is in a growing trend. Pointing out that there has been a 16 percent increase in the number of vehicles authorized for international transportation, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu gave the following information about the work done:

“There is a general increase of 20 percent in our international export transports by road. The average increase is 40 percent to our main export countries such as Germany, Netherlands and England. In some EU countries, an increase of up to 70 percent is seen. In the face of this increase in our land transportation, we are also experiencing an intense period in international relations. Issues are communicated at all levels to their counterparts in the opposite country. The number of Hungarian transit pass documents increased from 36 thousand to 130 thousand. With the last KUKK Meeting held in September, it was secured with the protocol that unlimited documents will be obtained in transit. After years, an increase was achieved in the number of Azerbaijani uniform pass documents, and the quota was increased from 35 thousand to 46 thousand. The issue of transit costs in Azerbaijan is followed very closely. With the passing of the relevant law by the Azerbaijani Assembly, significant reductions in wages will be provided. The Uzbekistan pass quota was increased from 12 thousand to 38 thousand in a short time, and the number of free documents was increased from 60 thousand to 10 thousand with an increase of 16 percent at the last KUKK Meeting held in July. At the KUKK Meeting held in September, it was decided to liberalize bilateral and transit transportation with Kyrgyzstan, one of the Central Asian countries. During the 12th Transport and Communications Council, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries on October 7, 2021, and this process was officially started. We continue to negotiate for liberalization in other Central Asian countries. 7 thousand additional documents were received from Serbia, which is among our main transit countries, 6 thousand from Czechia and 4 thousand from Romania. For the first time, 3 additional documents were obtained from Greece, and finally, on 28 September, undocumented passage was provided to 2 of our vehicles. The total number of additional pass certificates exchanged in 2021 exceeded 80 thousand.”

5 ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS FROM RUSSIA RECEIVED

Noting that there were difficulties in transportation to Central Asian countries with the closure of the Turkmenistan route, Karaismailoğlu emphasized that they are continuing negotiations for the opening of this route. Reminding that Russia-Kazakhstan has become the main route for transportation to Central Asian countries, Karaismailoğlu said that for this reason, additional documents were obtained from both countries, well above the normal quota. Underlining that a total of 2021 thousand 14 transit pass documents were obtained from Russia in 500, and 5 thousand transit pass documents valid for Ro-Ro transports, 14 thousand of which were from Kazakhstan, Karaismailoğlu stated that by obtaining 5 thousand 500 bilateral additional documents from Russia, transportation was facilitated.

Emphasizing that the age restriction valid until 31 December 2023 was extended as “not having reached the age of 69” in order to solve the problem of driver supply in the sector, Karaismailoğlu said, “In March 2021, the documents belonging to countries such as Bulgaria and Georgia, which did not have a transit document problem, by changing the principles of distribution of the Pass Certificate. For this purpose, we provided the transporters with the opportunity to obtain a pass directly from the distribution office without the need to apply to our Ministry. In addition, we have ended the 3-day document ban for companies that fail to return their mandatory transit documents 10 times, provided that they make the return process via e-Government. We have moved driver visa pre-applications for Bulgaria, Romania and Belarus to e-Government. Again, by transferring the controls and permissions at the Caspian crossings to U-Net instead of physical documents, we prevented the waiting, especially at the Sarp border gate.

Noting that they will attend the Turkic Council Transport Ministers Meeting to be held in Hungary tomorrow, Karaismailoğlu said that improving the conditions of the transporters will be one of the most important agendas.

12. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

Reminding that they organized the 12th Transport and Communication Council with international participation, Karaismailoğlu concluded his words as follows:

“We discussed important issues such as improving transportation in the post-Kovid-19 world, setting new standards for flexibility and global supply chains, the development of economy and transportation corridors that will provide development, and its impact on countries. We identified opportunities for the future and discussed our cooperation opportunities. As a result of this productive work, we declared our targets for road transport and logistics in the final declaration. The biggest aim of our work on land transportation is; to make your work and life easier. We will be with you tomorrow as we were yesterday and today to increase your competitiveness, solve your problems and respond to your needs. Since 2003; Our service attack will continue to increase in the transportation sector, which we have transformed into a highly competitive area operating on three continents.”