Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said that they quickly repaired the damage caused by the 'disaster of the century' in the transportation and communication infrastructure and that the work on permanent structures continues at the same pace. Minister Uraloğlu stated that 35,43 billion will be spent from the budget this year for the earthquake zone.
Minister Uraloğlu made a written statement regarding the steps taken after the February 6 Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, which were called the 'disaster of the century'.
Expressing his condolences to those who lost their lives in the earthquakes and condolences to their relatives, Uraloğlu emphasized that they are continuing a arduous and difficult struggle with strong projects in order to move the regions affected by the earthquakes further than before, by acting in accordance with the emergency plans.
WE WERE ON THE SITE AT ALL MOMENTS TO KEEP TRANSPORTATION ROADS OPEN AND COMMUNICATIONS ARE NOT INTERRUPTED.
Stating that, as the Ministry, they have carried out very important work from the first moment of the earthquake, Uraloğlu said, “Damage occurred in the 9-kilometer section, which constitutes only 176 percent of the 2 thousand 184-kilometer road in the highway road network in the earthquake region. In other words, 11 percent of our national road network in our 98 provinces did not suffer any damage from the earthquake. "We were on the field 7/24 to keep the transportation routes open and to ensure that communication was not interrupted in the damaged areas." gave the information.
Minister Uraloğlu stated that critical work is being carried out at the point of evacuations and delivery of aid to the earthquake zone. Uraloğlu stated that “in this context, we transported the equipment of local and foreign search and rescue teams and helped the vehicles return and disaster victims who wanted to leave the area.
WE EVACUATED 1 MILLION CITIZENS BY LAND, AIR, SEA AND RAIL
Minister Uraloğlu stated that Adana, Elazığ, Hatay, Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Malatya, Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş airports, located in the earthquake zone, kept our transportation infrastructure open for service with maintenance and repair despite the adverse weather conditions, to provide logistical support to the region, and said, “Our airlines are effective in disaster logistics.” We evacuated 720 thousand citizens from the region by using it quickly. "In coordination with AFAD Management Center, we evacuated more than 1 million citizens free of charge by land, sea and rail, as well as by air." He stated:
ROADS DAMAGED IN THE EARTHQUAKE WERE SCANNED AND REPAIRED WITH 'IMAGE-BASED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM'
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated that everyone should be much more conscious about natural disasters and said, "As the Ministry, we build our infrastructures in all transportation modes and communication with this approach and improve the existing ones." said.
Noting that they also took test shots with unmanned aerial vehicles for evaluation through the Image-Based Information Management System, Uraloğlu gave the following information:
“We started shooting with Panoramic Imaging Lidar scanning for damage assessment and condition inspection of our tunnels such as Erkenek Tunnel, located in the earthquake zone. We repair our roads affected by the earthquake and renew the signaling, guardrails, horizontal and vertical markings on these roads. In order to increase traffic safety measures, we carry out the maintenance and repair of all our bridges and the replacement of earthquake seismic reinforcement isolators. Our permanent repair work continues to repair the damage to historical bridges, service facilities, road maintenance houses and other service buildings damaged in the earthquake. We spent 2023 billion lira in 6,3 for our roads affected by the earthquake. “We plan to spend 2024 billion lira in 12.”
Stating that the responsibility for the development and connection roads of the reserve areas was given to the General Directorate of Highways by the Presidential decision, Minister Uraloğlu said that in this context, 5 projects and 10 construction tenders were held for the construction of connection and development roads with a total length of 38 kilometers for 180 thousand houses in 4 separate sections in 8 provinces, and the total project cost was 15 kilometers. He emphasized that the construction work continues intensively in these works, which cost billions of liras.
68 BILLION LIRA ALLOCATED TO REMEDY THE MATERIAL DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE EARTHQUAKE
Minister Uraloğlu also touched upon the work carried out to eliminate the damage caused in the land, air, sea and railway sectors after the earthquakes that affected 11 provinces.
Uraloğlu stated that 2023 billion lira was spent in 17,66 to eliminate the material damage caused by the earthquake, 2024 billion lira is planned to be spent in 35,43, and a total of 2024 billion lira will be spent after 15,31, including 68,40 billion lira.
Noting that 4,3 billion lira investment expenditure was made to repair the damage to the highways, Uraloğlu said, “2024 billion lira appropriation was allocated in the investment program in 5,8. This amount is planned to reach 19,5 billion lira in total.” He used the expression.
DAMAGED TRAINS AND Wagons WERE REPAIRED
Minister Uraloğlu stated that an investment expenditure of 26,4 billion lira is planned to prevent damage to the railway networks affected by the earthquake.
Uraloğlu noted that in addition to the investment expenditure of 2023 billion lira, a current expenditure of 5,8 million lira was made within the scope of the "Earthquake Damage Elimination Project", which was included in the investment program in 353,9.
Minister Uraloğlu also stated that the trains and wagons damaged in 2023 were repaired by spending approximately 29 million lira and said, “Renewal and improvement works continue on the damaged lines. Work continues urgently in the Bahçe-Nurdağ-Narlı-Gölbaşı-Malatya, Köprüağzı-Kahmanmaraş, Fevzipaşa and Islahiye sections.” he said.
REPAIR AND REINFORCEMENT WORKS CONTINUE AT HATAY AIRPORT
Uraloğlu noted that an investment expenditure of 9,6 billion lira is planned due to the damages incurred in the infrastructure, superstructure and equipment of Hatay, Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya Airports.
Stating that 1,3 billion lira of this amount was realized with the 2023 budget opportunities, Uraloğlu stated that in addition to these, a total of 17,8 million lira was spent on current expenditure items.
AIRPLANES THAT ARE 45 METERS WIDE WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO LAND
Uraloğlu stated that the construction at Hatay Airport continues and said:
“On October 12, we held the tender for the repair and development of Hatay Airport PAT fields and started the construction work on November 21. The construction of the renewed Hatay Airport will be completed next year according to plans, but we are trying to bring it forward. This place will serve without being affected by earthquakes and flight traffic in the region will increase. With the work done, our airport will also be protected against floods. We will build an additional new runway of 45 thousand meters at the airport, which will allow wide-body aircraft with a width of 3 meters to land. “We will build a new parallel taxiway, 2 fast exits and 720 connection taxiways with a length of 2 thousand 4 meters.”
Emphasizing that the apron and environmental security road will also be renewed, Uraloğlu said that the new heating center, regulator buildings, guardhouses and landscaping will also be manufactured.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated that it is planned to spend a total of 3,86 billion liras on observation stations, fishing shelters, lodging buildings and water sports centers, which were damaged in the maritime infrastructure and superstructure after the earthquake disaster.