The comprehensive transportation panel organized by the Chamber of Civil Engineers (IMO) Bursa Branch hosted important discussions on the city's future transportation strategies and current projects. IMO Bursa Branch President Atilla Erdem should be congratulated for this meaningful event that addresses the issue of transportation, which is a vital part of the engineering field. Because the establishment of such a platform clearly demonstrates IMO's professional responsibility and contribution to the development of Bursa.
Expected Participation and Surprise Change
The announced program of the panel was expected to include the participation of the General Manager of Infrastructure Investments of the Ministry of Transport, Dr. Yalçın Eyigün. However, a last-minute change was made to the program and Deputy General Manager Enver Mamur joined the panel. Mamur shared information about various transportation projects in the country in his speech.
Has Bursa High Speed Train Been Forgotten? Critical Intervention from Retired Manager
During the presentation of Deputy Director General Enver Mamur, it was striking that the high-speed train project that Bursa had been waiting for many years was not mentioned. İsmail Kabil, an experienced name who was present in the hall and retired from the Highways and Bridges Department, noticed this situation and addressed the Deputy Director General from where he was sitting and said, “You have skipped Bursa’s high-speed train project, Mr. Director General,” and brought the issue to the agenda.
Statement from Mamur and New Criticism from Kabul
Following this intervention, Enver Mamur looked at his notes and made a detailed statement about the Bursa high-speed train project. He stated that the project was progressing successfully in a difficult geography and that test drives and then trial runs would begin within 1-2 months. However, during the question-answer session, İsmail Kabil took the floor again and made an important criticism. While Kabil appreciated that the General Directorate of Infrastructure Investments (AYGM) made a tender with foreign credit for the remaining works of the high-speed train line, which accelerated the project, he expressed his surprise that AYGM gave invited tenders to the company that won the first tender, which wasted ten years of Bursa and was still slowing down. Reminding that the same company had similar failures on the Sivas line, Kabil asked whether it was considered not to include such companies in invited tenders for the sake of the public interest.
Confusion and Unsatisfactory Answer
In the face of Kabil's direct and critical question, AYGM Deputy General Manager Enver Mamur was briefly surprised. Instead of answering, he merely referred to the general difficulties of railway construction and the large number of tunnels and viaducts on the Bursa line. Mamur's answer gave the impression that he did not give a satisfactory answer to the specific and important question Kabil had raised.
The Lost Years of Bursa and the First Company to Win the Tender
Following the panel, Ismail Kabil emphasized in a private interview that the company that won the first tender was Çelikler. Kabil clearly criticized the performance of this company and said, “Kalyon completed twice as many tunnels as Çelikler undertook in 2 years.” This comparison strikingly reveals the slowness of the company that won the first tender in the project process and the delays it caused. Kabil also shared the information, “I learned from familiar engineers that the two tunnels Çelikler undertook, one of which is the Seymen Tunnel, and a long tunnel in the Kalyon section have not yet been completed, and that there are 3-40 meters of excavation and two floors of concreting work left,” thus supporting concerns that there are still important parts of the project that have not been completed and that the company that won the first tender could not complete the work on time. This important panel organized by İMO Bursa brought the delays in Bursa’s long-awaited high-speed train project and the possible reasons for these delays to the agenda once again, drawing public attention.
