Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made important statements, explaining that, as the Ministry, they are evaluating what they can do to achieve the goals set by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan within the scope of the Türkiye Century.
Uraloğlu continued his words as follows:
"We are especially looking at issues such as the situation reached in the Terror-Free Turkey process, is there anything we need to know on the field? In fact, we all see together what positive effects the Terror-Free Turkey process has not only in our country, but also in the entire geography. In other words, there is a Turkey under the leadership of our President that not only saves the day, the short term, the medium term, but also plans the long term. Our President made a speech at the United Nations that touched not only us but everyone with conscience, regardless of language, religion or belief. We too "Together with our organizations, we are trying to see if we can take some of the burden off the shoulders of our President and touch our citizens a little."
"WE WILL OPEN THE SARIYER-KİLYOS TUNNEL BY THE END OF THE YEAR"
Minister Uraloğlu, upon a question regarding transportation investments, said that urban rail system investments are the responsibility of the relevant municipalities, but the authority in processes such as approving the projects and deciding on their feasibility is the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
Uraloğlu said, "If the relevant municipality wants the project to be undertaken by our Ministry, we will undertake it at the discretion of our President. Of course, we make the national networks and connections to national networks." he said.
Reminding that they undertook the Gayrettepe-Istanbul Airport, Istanbul Airport-Halkalı metro lines and Marmaray, Uraloğlu said the following:
"Today, there are around 380 kilometers of rail system in Istanbul. We have implemented more than 160 kilometers of it. Some of them are operated by us and some of them are operated by the municipality. A total of 1000 kilometers of metro is needed in Istanbul. We can no longer solve Istanbul's traffic with ground rubber tire systems. Of course, there are things that need to be done there. We will continue to do them. For example, let me mention one right away. It is about the continuation of the Sarıyer-Kilyos Tunnel... I hope to have that tunnel by the end of this year. "This is actually the job of the Metropolitan Municipality. Since there was no movement there, we took it upon the instructions of our President and are doing it."
"ISTANBUL NEEDS 600 MORE KILOMETERS OF METRO"
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Uraloğlu stated that the length of the rail system in Istanbul is around 400 kilometers, including the ongoing ones, and emphasized that the city needs 600 more kilometers of metro.
Stating that these investments should be planned by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Uraloğlu made the following evaluations:
"Of course, we take on our duties. For example, the Ümraniye-Beykoz metro line. It came to our agenda, we presented it to our President, he appreciated it and we took it under our responsibility. We do not have the authority to say 'Istanbul has a need in terms of metro and we are doing this', but we definitely evaluate the requests. We have a metro line that continues until Bosna Boulevard-Çamlıca Mosque-Ümraniye Sports Village. Hopefully, we will complete it."
"WORKS CONTINUE ON HALKALI-KAPIKULE HIGH-SPEED TRAIN PROJECT"
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Uraloğlu underlined that the work continues on the Halkalı-Kapıkule High Speed Train Project and concluded his words as follows:
"We have a high-speed train line that goes from Halkalı to Kapıkule. Hopefully, we will open the section between Çerkezköy and Kapıkule within the next month with the participation of our President. We will open the section between Halkalı and Çerkezköy next year. Therefore, I would like to especially state for our Istanbul and 81 provinces that, as the ministry, we are open to all kinds of cooperation, both on our own responsibility and in terms of local demands."
