Adil Karaismailoglu, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, made an examination of the works on the 7th Section of the Northern Marmara Highway, Habibler-Hasdal Construction Site. Minister stated that they have invested ₺1 trillion 86 billion in transportation and communication modes in the last 19 years. Karaismailoglu said, “The most strategic and value-added project in the future picture of the Marmara Region will be Kanal Istanbul, where we will start the construction in a short time.”
Adil Karaismailoglu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, made examinations at the Habipler-Hasdal construction site of the 7th section of the Northern Marmara Motorway. Minister Karaismailoglu, reminding that they were at Batman to open the Hasankeyf Bridge with President Erdogan on Saturday, “Today, we are in Istanbul. We are in a feverish effort to ensure integral development equally in the east and west, north and south of Turkey’s, and to leave nothing neglected before 2002.
We are both in the village and in the city. We exist with our tunnels, bridges over our rivers, our ports in the seas, our satellites in the skies, in the mountains that are called no-pass. We are at every point in the service of our nation. As you know, Turkey has accelerated the transportation and communication investments that connect our country with the world both socially and economically for 19 years. Today, Turkey’s being a country that continues to grow despite the epidemic conditions and the stagnation of the world’s largest economies is a result of these rational, planned and determined investments. Our Ministry is taking steps in a planned manner for the development of our transportation and communication system by creating a perfect and complete ecosystem in human, freight and data transportation. Every investment we make in transportation and communication revitalizes the economy of our country, makes growth sustainable and increases employment opportunities.
Minister Karaismailoglu, who stated that the importance of the investments made by young people in eliminating their future concerns is very important in order to achieve welfare for every household, “That is why, due to the interests of our people and our country, we are completing all the shortcomings of our country with high-quality projects, with the means of our country, sometimes with public-private sector cooperation projects. The transport ecosystem that will emerge in the final picture is Turkey’s infrastructure, which will become one of the 10 largest economies of the world. Unfortunately, I would like to say a few sentences about our Public and Private Sector investments, which are subjected to unwarranted and purposeful criticism: Turkey is progressing from being a developing country to being a developed country. This process requires making more investments more quickly and taking advantage of both geographical and cyclical opportunities as soon as possible. At this stage, we mobilize all our resources, including the capabilities and capital of the private sector.”
Minister said, “Our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure determines which projects will be carried out by public tenders and which projects will be carried out with PPP, taking into account the short-medium and long-term interests of the country. As a result of comprehensive studies and meticulous feasibility studies, it is decided that certain projects can be done with PPP. All tenders made with PPP are open tenders and all companies can enter and the tender that gives the most suitable bid remains. While we transfer the operating rights of our projects for a period of time, we have contractor companies have all maintenance and repair services, financing expenses, renovation works and operating expenses, as well as construction, over the toll fees. Thus, while these projects are handed over to our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure when the time comes, they are maintained with the first-day qualities and received in a brand new way, without creating burden and financial risk on the state budget. In other words, all expenses from construction to maintenance, from repair to operating costs are provided by the operating companies. The projects are under the control of our Ministry, followed closely and proceeding in a very healthy way. This method has always been preferred in large-scale projects such as the Northern Marmara Motorway, Izmir-Istanbul Highway, YSS Bridge, 1915 Canakkale Bridge, Eurasia Tunnel, Istanbul Airport, and Ankara-Nigde Motorway. Such large-budget projects have been completed in a very short time and brought to our country. As a result, all these works will become the self-owned property of the Republic of Turkey and its citizens when the operating contracts are terminated. For example, the Northern Marmara highway, which includes the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, will be delivered to our state as if it was newly built, after the operation period will expire in 2027.”
“IN 19 YEARS, WE HAVE INVESTED ₺1 TRILLION 86 BILLION IN TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION MODES”
Stating that the safety of life on highways is a bleeding wound for many years, Minister Karaismailoglu stated that they have made serious progress in this regard, and that the number of vehicles traveling on highways has increased by 80% in the last 13 years, and that they have reduced the number of people who lost their lives in accidents by 79%.
“We will open the Canakkale Bridge next year and complete the Marmara ring”
Stating that the Northern Marmara Motorway is a component of the Marmara ring, Minister said, “The completion of the Marmara Highway ring in the Marmara Region, where a large part of our country’s industry and trade takes place, is very important in terms of ensuring international logistics mobility. We have 9 provinces in interaction with the Marmara highway ring. These provinces make up 37% of the country’s population, 75% of exports and 655 of gross domestic product. On the other hand, the Middle Corridor, one of the most important trade routes in the world, passes through our Marmara Region and forms a belt from England to China. It is obvious that the Marmara Region will be the crossroads of this economically growing geography of the world in the coming years. In other words, Marmara Region, located in the middle of the most productive and fastest-growing geography of the world, will become a transit center where the world trade beats. We have completed the Northern Marmara Motorway, we will open the 1915 Canakkale Bridge next year and complete the Marmara ring.”
“By building Kanal Istanbul, we will both strengthen our claim in world trade and secure our world heritage Istanbul and Istanbul residents in every way.”
Speaking about the Kanal Istanbul Project, Minister said, “Of course, the most strategic and value-added project in the future picture of the Marmara Region will be Kanal Istanbul, where we will start construction soon. While freight traffic is increasing in the world, maritime transport maintains its importance by increasing. Today, all countries in the region are trying to lower their loads to the Black Sea and transfer them from the straits to the South and the Middle Corridor. Moreover, they have accelerated their port investments in the Black Sea and Aegean coasts. As Istanbul, which is located at the intersection of the Middle Corridor and the North South Corridor, becomes the focus city of world trade, it is clear that the amount of cargo passing through the Straits will increase every year. 43 thousand ships pass through the Bosphorus today.
In addition, the strait traffic in the city continues with this. Even this figure is far above what the Bosphorus can handle. As the Black Sea becomes a commercial lake, the number of ships passing through our Straits, where the safe passage capacity is 25 thousand, will inevitably increase. The ship volumes of these ships passing through the Bosphorus have grown enormously. Considering that 20% of the ships passing through the Bosphorus carry hazardous materials, we see that the shores of the world city of Istanbul will face more and more risks. So the scale of the danger has gotten much larger. From now on, our lives are not safe, neither our property nor our environment. That is why, by building Kanal Istanbul, we will both strengthen our claim in world trade and secure our world heritage Istanbul and Istanbulites in all respects. With the opening of the Habipler and Hasdal section to traffic, we will put the entire 400-kilometer-long Northern Marmara Motorway into service.”
Minister stated that they have completed the construction works of the 400 kilometers long Northern Marmara Motorway together with the connection roads and said, “The Northern Marmara Motorway, which consists of 6 sections, cost $8 billion in total. We foresee that this cost will return in a very short time. In terms of project benefits, our savings in time, fuel, CO2 emissions exceed ₺2.5 billion annually. In terms of its contribution to the environment, the reduction in CO2 emissions we achieve is equivalent to 16 thousand trees. We have accomplished an extremely important job by bringing the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Northern Marmara Highway to Istanbul. We provided the connection between the 1-kilometer Basaksehir Junction of the Northern Marmara Motorway and the Habipler Junction of the 10.26-kilometer-long 7th Section. The length of the remaining part to be opened to traffic in the coming days is 9.16 kilometers. On the route, we will depart from the TEM highway Hasdal junction and cross the Sultangazi Gazi neighborhood with tunnels, reach Cebeci, and after the Habibs, we will reach the northern Marmara highway from the Basaksehir junction. The most important structure of this section is the T03 Cebeci Tunnel and it is designed to have 4 lanes. Including the cut-and-cover structures, the left tube is 3,815 meters long, and the right tube is 4,5 meters long. Thus, this tunnel will be the longest and widest tunnel in Istanbul with 4 lanes.”
Minister Karaismailoglu continued his speech as follows: “By opening this section to service, we will connect to the Habipler Junction and Eski Edirne Asphalt Street, to Arnavutkoy in the north, Sultangazi and Gaziosmanpasa in the south, and to the 2nd Ring Road (O-2) in Alibeykoy-Hasdal area with Hasdal Junction, we will facilitate the transportation of the vehicles coming from the direction of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge by using the 2nd Ring Road to Basaksehir, Kayasehir, Arnavutkoy, which are the dense residential areas of Istanbul, and Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital and Ikitelli OIZ region. We will create a fast, comfortable and safe new transportation alternative between Hasdal Junction, which has the highest traffic volume of the 2nd Ring Road, and Mahmutbey West Junction.
In summary, with the opening of the 7th section to traffic, a new fast, safe and comfortable transportation corridor will emerge as an alternative to the existing 2nd ring road exposed to high urban traffic volume. Fuel and time losses caused by waiting in traffic will be prevented by preventing long vehicle queues that occur especially during peak hours. In addition, by providing a direct connection to the Northern Marmara Motorway section between Nakkas and Basaksehir, which will be started in the near future, thanks to Section 7, With the 2nd Ring Road, a new transportation axis will be created between settlements such as Basaksehir, Kayasehir, Ispartakule, Bahcesehir, Hadimkoy and the industrial zones in this vicinity, which will eliminate the traffic in Mahmutbey toll booths in the east-west direction.
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz