Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made a presentation at the 'Türkiye's Transportation Vision' seminar at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). Uraloğlu said, "Our vision is to be a pioneer in the world with human and environment-oriented, smart and safe integrated transportation systems and fast communication networks in the Turkish Century." The event, which took place on Saturday, March 15, was organized at the ITU Süleyman Demirel Culture Center.
Minister Uraloğlu talked about Türkiye's mega projects and transportation and communication investments in his presentation during the event. Minister Uraloğlu said that the guarantee of the future is the youth and said, "I sincerely believe that when you graduate from here and assume certain duties, you will provide great services to our country, our geography and the entire world."
Minister Uraloğlu emphasized that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure transports people, cargo and data and said, “Our vision is to be a pioneer in the world with human and environment-oriented, smart and safe integrated transport systems and fast communication networks in the Turkish Century.”
Türkiye is at the center of the middle corridor due to its location
Emphasizing the geostrategic importance of Türkiye’s geographical location, Uraloğlu stated that Türkiye is at the center of 4 countries with approximately 1,5 billion people within a 67-hour flight distance. Uraloğlu added that the region in question has a gross national product of $51 trillion and an annual trade volume of $25 trillion. Uraloğlu said that Türkiye is also at the center of the Middle Corridor due to its location, and noted that they plan to further strengthen this corridor.
Uraloğlu, who stated that a cargo from Beijing reaches London in 35 days via the Suez Canal and 45 days via the Cape of Good Hope, said that this period will be reduced to approximately 25 days when the Development Corridor is completed. Uraloğlu underlined that the cargo transportation period is 18 days via the Middle Corridor and that in the future, they will reduce the period to 14 days thanks to the Caspian railway.
Uraloğlu, who also touched on the importance of the Zangezur Corridor, said, “The Zangezur Corridor will start from Azerbaijan, go through Armenia or Iran, then Nakhchivan, then Dilucu and Kars and connect to the Baku-Tbilisi Line. In fact, it will also connect to our country’s railway network in a sense. Construction work on this continues on the Azerbaijan side. We will hopefully start the 224 kilometers that appear on our side in the coming months.”
Minister Uraloğlu noted that the Development Road Corridor will mainly transport cargo from China to Faw Port in the Persian Gulf of Iraq by sea, covering a distance of 200 kilometers by rail and entering Türkiye from Ovaköy. Uraloğlu said, “This is a project in our country that will cover a line of approximately 2 kilometers and exit from Kapıkule to Europe. The project is finished. We are discussing the financing and construction of this as Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Hopefully, we will have implemented it in the upcoming period.”
Divided Road Network Reaching 29 Kilometers
Uraloğlu, who stated that while there were 2002 kilometers of divided roads in 6, today there are 101 kilometers of divided roads, made the following statements in his statement:
“The length of the roads in the area of responsibility of the Highways Authority is approximately 69 thousand kilometers. In 2002, only 6 provinces were connected by divided roads, while today, 77 provinces are connected by divided roads. We increased the length of the highways to 3 kilometers. We increased the Hot Bituminous Mixture coated roads to almost 796 thousand kilometers. We did very serious work on bridges, viaducts and tunnels.”
Emphasizing that engineering is one of the professions that finds a response with aesthetics, Uraloğlu said, “We also have very beautiful aesthetic structures. In this sense, I would like to say that the structures we have built have received many quality awards from international organizations. 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Zigana Tunnel, Eğiste Hadimi Viaduct…”
Uraloğlu, who also explained that the bridges are ranked according to their specific features, stated that the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world with a central span of 2 meters and said, “It is truly an engineering marvel and here is a bridge that reflects our national values, reflects our flag, and has many features with cannonballs. A total of 23 meters, including approach viaducts.”
Minister Uraloğlu, who also talked about Türkiye's mega projects, stated that they have implemented projects such as the Osmangazi Bridge, Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Eurasia Tunnel, Northern Marmara Highway, 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, Zigana Tunnel and Aydın-Denizli Highway. Uraloğlu also gave information to the students about these projects and their achievements.
Uraloğlu, who said that the current highway between Ankara and Istanbul will not be enough in the future, said, “The current highway between Ankara and Istanbul will not be enough. When? About 10 years from now. Then we are working on this project from today. In other words, when our friends and brothers who use the Northern Marmara Highway come to Akyazı and enter the old highway, they feel like they have suddenly entered city traffic. Then we need to build a highway from the Northern Marmara Highway to Ankara. We have started its project now.”
Minister Uralğlu, who said that it is predicted that one out of every two vehicles sold in 2035 will be electric, said, “Look, the number of electric vehicles in our country is currently around 208 thousand. Our charging stations have 28 thousand sockets. I can say that it is better than many countries, many developed countries. There is no province in Türkiye that does not have a charging station.”
Minister Uraloğlu also stated that they continue their work to develop smart transportation systems without slowing down and underlined that they will implement the infrastructure of a process that will lead to autonomous driving in Türkiye within a few years.
Approximately 14 Thousand Kilometers of Railway Network
Minister Uraloğlu, emphasizing that there is a railway network of approximately 14 thousand kilometers in Türkiye, stated that they have increased the length of high-speed railways to 2 kilometers and the urban rail systems built by the Ministry to 251 kilometers. Speaking about the ongoing and planned railway projects, Uraloğlu said, “When we finish this, you will be able to get on a train and travel around our entire country in 48 hours.”
Speaking about the Ankara-Istanbul Super High Speed Train, Minister Uraloğlu said, “We have started the Super High Speed Train Project that will come from Ankara via Nallıhan Beypazarı. It will travel at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour and you will be able to travel between Ankara and Istanbul in 80 minutes.” Uraloğlu also drew attention to the fact that Türkiye is now producing its own trains.
Türkiye has air transportation agreements with 175 countries
Uraloğlu, who also emphasized that they increased the number of airports to 58, noted that Türkiye has Air Transportation Agreements with 175 countries and flies to 351 destinations. Uraloğlu said, “While we carried 2003 million passengers in 34, today we can carry 230 million passengers.” Emphasizing that there are 217 ports in maritime and 532 million tons of cargo are handled, Uraloğlu said that they increased the number of shipyards from 37 to 85.
Uraloğlu, who said that the number of broadband subscribers is 96 million and the number of mobile subscribers is 94-95 million, said, “Our fiber length is 588 thousand kilometers. We are working on increasing this to 800 thousand kilometers.”
Minister Uraloğlu, who noted that they have offered 5G technology to the citizens in the stadiums of the big 4, said, “5G technology will bring us 10 times the speed in practice. Hopefully, we will have started to spread 5G throughout Turkey next year.”
