Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said, “We are also launching Rize-İzmir flights. The first expedition will take place on September 18," he said. Minister Uraloğlu also announced the date of the Iyidere Logistics Port Project, which will connect Turkey to the world as an international logistics base, and said, “This port has strategic importance. We will put it into operation in 2026," he said.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made a press statement after the Rize provincial coordination meeting and announced that Rize-İzmir flights would be launched. Uraloğlu said, “The first time will be held on September 18. Starting from October, flights between Rize and İzmir will continue every Saturday. We are planning to increase these flights to two times a week starting from November.”
Regarding the infrastructure and transportation projects in the region, Minister Uraloğlu, after emphasizing the importance of the Iyidere Logistics Port project, announced the date that it will be put into operation with the stage reached in the project. Minister Uraloğlu's statement on this issue is as follows:
“This port has strategic importance with its location on the Caucasus Corridor opening to the Eastern Black Sea Region, Europe and Central Asia. It will be the transfer center of the combined transport chain that will result from the potential traffic between the Caucasian countries and the Middle East countries. With an annual 3 million tons of general cargo, 8 million tons of bulk cargo, 100 thousand TEU containers and a Ro-Ro capacity of 100 thousand vehicles, it will be the new address for large tonnage ships in the Black Sea Basin. It is a great advantage that it is an alternative that reduces the 25 billion dollar import of Iran's northern states using Dubai Ports from one month to 15 days. With this feature, it will contribute greatly to the share of the region and our country in maritime trade. We made about 27 percent progress throughout the project. Hopefully, we will put our project into operation in 2026. We will provide employment for 600 people at the first stage with its inauguration. We anticipate that this number of employment will increase over time. I think this port is a seal on Rize's future.”
WE HAVE REACHED TURKEY WITH OUR INVESTMENTS
Minister Uraloğlu said that the amount of investment made by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in Turkey's transportation and communication infrastructure in the last 21 years is approximately 4 trillion 173 billion liras. Uraloğlu spoke as follows regarding the investments made:
“We have increased our divided road length from 6 kilometers to over 100 kilometers. We made Turkey Europe's 29th World's 6th High Speed Train operator. By constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Line and Marmaray, we enabled the Iron Silk Road from London to Beijing to come to life. We increased the number of 8 airports to 26. Divided roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, railways, airports, countless works. Moreover, their construction did not take decades. Remember the Black Sea Coastal Road that you are currently traveling on every day. We waited years for it to be done. We even gave up hope. This road was the most important part of the 57 km long Black Sea Ring Road Development Project carried out within the scope of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. For this reason, the completion of the Black Sea Coastal road was very important in Rize, as it was in all Eastern Black Sea and regional countries. The AK Party Governments were fortunate enough to complete this 1700-kilometer road from Samsun to Sarp. Praise be to the completion of the Black Sea Coastal Highway in 542, and all my brothers from the Black Sea region forgot about the ordeals experienced on the roads. With the Black Sea Coastal Road from Samsun to the Sarp Border Gate, movement came, abundance came.”
BLACK SEA WILL BECOME A LOGISTIC BASE
Emphasizing that Rize is one of the important centers of the Eastern Black Sea Region with its location on the Caucasus Corridor opening to Europe and Central Asia and its location providing access to the Eastern bloc country markets, Minister Uraloğlu said, “The rapidly growing and developing Organized Industrial Zone and its construction works continue. With the completion of the Iyidere Logistics Port, it will become an important logistics base in the Black Sea. For this reason, it is our duty to meet the transportation needs arising from the increasing potential of Rize and to establish an advanced transportation and communication infrastructure. In this context, we have spent approximately 21 billion liras for Rize's transportation and communication infrastructure investments in the last 75 years. Until 2003, there were only 16 kilometers of divided roads, we made 175 kilometers and reached a total of 191 kilometers. Only 2 kilometers of their roads were covered with BSK, we increased it to 365 kilometers. We have completed very important projects such as the Black Sea Coastal Road, Ovit Tunnel and Connection Roads, İkizdere City Crossing, Hurmalık-1 and Hurmalık 2 Tunnels and the Salarha Tunnel, which our citizens in Rize have dreamed of for 70 years. We continue with the good ones.” he said.
WE PROVIDE 2 MILLION PASSENGERS TO BENEFIT
We opened Rize-Artvin Airport, which is one of the few airports in the world built on the sea and the second airport in our country after Ordu-Giresun Airport, in May last year. There is no airport built on the sea like these two airports in Europe, and there are very few examples in the world. In fact, our Rize-Artvin Airport became the 5th airport in the world. In other words, 5 of the 2 airports built on the sea in the world were built in our country. With a runway of 3 meters and a terminal building capable of serving 3 million passengers a year, it fully meets the airline transportation needs of the region. From the date of its opening, Rize-Artvin Airport has operated a total of 4 flights, of which 257 landed on domestic flights and 4 departed, and a total of 252 flights, 8 landing and 509 departing international flights. In general, there was approximately 59 aircraft traffic. More than 62 million 121 thousand passenger traffic was realized. At our Rize-Artvin Airport, a total of 8 flights daily, including 650 flights to Istanbul Airport, 1 flights to Sabiha Gökçen and 200 flights to Ankara, have 6 round-trip traffic. We anticipate that 4 million passengers will benefit from our Rize-Artvin Airport from the day it opened until the end of the year.”
Minister Uraloğlu stated that the tender process for the Ardeşen-Ayder Road had already started and that the tender for the 36.7 km road would be completed within this month, and that the production would begin as soon as possible.
Minister Uraloğlu, explaining that they have completed the supply halves of the Iyidere-Ikizdere-Ovit Road, said, “We are finishing the 37 km section between Iyidere-Ikizdere. We will include the 19 km section between İkizdere and Ovit into the investment program as soon as possible”.
Uraloğlu also noted that the 6-km joint road works on the Ayder-Tunca connection of the Ardeşen-Ayder-Tunca Road continue, and said, "We will also plan our work on the remaining 12 km section."