Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said that the project was implemented to shape the future of Trabzon and to build a more sustainable and livable city, and that they shaped Turkey's future vision by keeping the pulse of the world, closely following technological developments and always putting integration at the center.
Minister Uraloğlu attended the opening ceremony of the Sustainable Urban Transportation Plan Project in his hometown, Trabzon, where he went to make a series of visits. In his speech here, he said, 'Welcome to paradise on Earth' to Odoardo Como, Head of the Financial Affairs Department of the European Union Delegation, whom he learned was coming to Trabzon for the first time.
Uraloğlu also pointed out that they continue their work with the vision of being a pioneer in the world in the Turkey Century, with human and environment-oriented, smart and safe integrated transportation systems and fast communication networks.
Pointing out that they see transportation and communication investments as the basis of uninterrupted development, a competitive economy, social interaction, sustainable urbanism and prosperity, Uraloğlu said, “We have accomplished 22 years of work in the last 100 years under the leadership of our President. We have invested approximately 250 billion dollars in our country's transportation and communications infrastructure. From now on, we foresee investing approximately 195 billion dollars by 2053. “We planned this too.” he said.
Stating that they have implemented giant projects such as Marmaray, Eurasia Tunnel, Istanbul Airport, Yavuz Sultan Selim, Osmangazi, 1915 Çanakkale Bridges, Izmir-Istanbul highway, Ankara-Niğde and Northern Marmara highways, Uraloğlu continued as follows:
“We have provided fast, safe and comfortable access to every point of our country with high standard, divided roads. We increased our divided road length from 6 thousand 100 kilometers to 29 thousand 500 kilometers, and our highway length from 1714 kilometers to approximately 3 thousand 700 kilometers. We increased our railway network from 10 thousand 948 kilometers to 14 thousand 165 km. We also renewed our existing railway network almost from scratch. We have established both electrification and signaling infrastructure. Again, we built a 2 thousand 251 kilometer high speed train network from scratch, when there was no high speed train in our country. Since 2002, we have increased the number of active airports from 26 to 57 and our terminal capacity from 55 million passengers to approximately 338 million. "While international flights were operating to 50 destinations in 60 countries, we added 283 new destinations to our flight network and started flying to 343 destinations around the world."
Uraloğlu emphasized that they increased the number of international ports in the maritime field from 152 to 190, the number of shipyards from 37 to 85, and the yacht mooring capacity from 8 thousand 500 to over 25 thousand.
Stating that they completed the Black Sea Coastal Road, which is the main artery of transportation in the Black Sea and Trabzon, in this period, Uraloğlu said, “We completed the Zigana tunnel, Maçka tunnels and Tanjant road. We completed the most important sections of Kanuni Boulevard and opened it to traffic again. We are now working on the Boztepe-Değirmedenre connection. Likewise, we are rapidly carrying out tunnel work to connect Maçka Road directly to the coast. "We have accelerated our tunnel work in KOP, which is impassable in winter." he said.
WE STARTED WORK TO BRING A NEW AIRPORT TO TRABZON
Stating that they have started the construction of the existing Trabzon Airport, which should be done as a priority, Uraloğlu said:
“We started our work to bring a new airport to Trabzon. We will add two fixed passenger bridges and shelters to the existing domestic terminal building. Especially the new international arrivals terminal and CIP building were urgent. By the end of the year, we want to complete the feasibility studies of the new 3-meter-long runway and the new terminal building of 240 thousand square meters with a capacity of 10 million passengers and start the tender process. . Afterwards, we will start the construction process of Trabzon Airport. "When completed, we will hopefully have realized a very valuable work that will serve Trabzon for many years to come."
WORKS HAVE STARTED FOR TRABZON RAIL SYSTEM LINE
Minister Uraloğlu emphasized that they have started working on the Trabzon Rail System Line, which will respond to the travel demand between Akçaabat district, Meydan region, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon Bus Terminal and Trabzon Airport.
Expressing that they had a good cooperation with Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality, Uraloğlu said, “With the approval of our President, we have taken this project on board and hopefully from now on, we will bring it to our city together with our municipality. This is truly one of the essential projects for our province and city. We are talking about our project, which will be 31,9 kilometers long and have 56 stations. We will ease the traffic by connecting the most populated area from the west to the east of our city with rail system lines. We have completed the study-project services tender preparation works. “Hopefully, we will start to flesh out the work done by our metropolitan municipality so far this year.” made his assessment.
Uraloğlu emphasized that the job is not over with just building housing, and that in addition to this change, conflicts also arise in issues such as transportation and logistics services, health and education, and continued as follows:
“As we have done so far, we will build the Turkish Century together on the basis of a strong, modern, solid infrastructure and superstructure, and we will continuously improve the quality of life of our nation. Increasing population rates now necessitate the search for solutions that include sustainable policies and projects and advanced technologies, beyond traditional approaches. Today, we see that many cities, both in our country and around the world, are going through the digital transformation process and trying to adapt to this change. At this point, as the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, we have provided and continue to provide many supports to our cities for the construction and development of urban transportation systems, in addition to our investments in our international and national transportation system.”
Uraloğlu pointed out that they started to prepare Sustainable Urban Transportation Plans and integrate them into national transportation systems in many cities, especially Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Kocaeli, Düzce and Trabzon, and said, “We attach great importance to the preparation of transportation plans. We are working with the European Union to implement new projects that will include cities that are not included in these programs, and we are implementing world-scale projects in the fields of transportation and communication in every point of the great and powerful Turkey. "Turkey continues its efforts to implement high standards and rules compatible with the European Union acquis in the field of transportation with determination." he said.
WE SIGNED A 16,3 MILLION EUROS SERVICE PROCUREMENT CONTRACT FOR OUR CITIES
Stating that Turkey-European Union Financial Cooperation, which has been ongoing since 2002, supports and accelerates these studies in every sector of transportation, Uraloğlu continued as follows:
“In this context Halkalı-We are adding EU grants to public resources, such as the Kapıkule Railway line, Ankara-Istanbul High Speed Train Line Köseköy-Gebze section, Irmak-Karabük-Zonguldak and Samsun-Kalın Railway lines projects. In addition to projects of this size, we are aware of the importance of sustainable projects that improve the quality of life of our nation and provide safe, economical, comfortable, fast, environmentally friendly and rational services. In parallel with the European Union's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, we support municipalities to prepare sustainable urban transportation plans through our Ministry's IPA Funds. In this context, in addition to Trabzon Municipality, we are carrying out Sustainable Urban Transportation projects with Kocaeli, Ankara, Düzce, Istanbul and Izmir Municipalities, and we have signed a 16,3 million Euro service procurement contract for these cities.”