500 Million Lira Investment from İSKİ to Istanbul: 6 New Facilities Put into Service

6 new facilities, consisting of logistics centers, disaster coordination areas and service buildings, built on the European Side of Istanbul, were officially put into service with a mass opening ceremony held at the İSKİ General Directorate Campus in Eyüpsultan.

Deputy Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Nuri Aslan, Mayor of Edirne Filiz Gencan Akın, Mayor of Eyüpsultan Mithat Bülent Özmen, and managers of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and İSKİ also attended the ceremony.

Speaking here, İSKİ General Manager Şafak Başa said:

"As much as the beauties of this great city, there are also some risks that we cannot ignore. The most important of these are possible earthquakes and disasters. Since 2019, when we took office as İSKİ, we have been continuing our work with a vision that does not ignore the reality of earthquakes and disasters in Istanbul for a moment. Sustaining water and wastewater services after a possible disaster requires that the necessary pipes, valves, fittings, vehicles and equipment are available at the right points, the response teams are quickly directed and the coordination between our units is uninterrupted. For this reason, while strengthening our infrastructure, we also consider the logistics system that will keep that infrastructure alive. With this understanding, we first put a very nice logistics center into service on the Anatolian side. Then, with the participation of our President Ekrem, we accelerated our work on the European side and created 4 logistics center areas, especially in Bağcılar, Mahmutbey, Eyüpsultan, Silivri Parkköy and Selimpaşa, and today we are putting them into service.

“WE WILL PROVIDE MORE EFFECTIVE COORDINATION”

In case of a disaster, they have become places where our staff and managers can come, work, hold meetings and quickly manage the shipment from here. That's why we named it logistics center. We will now keep our materials and equipment in safer conditions by protecting them from rain, snow, sun and other external factors. We will be able to deliver the needed equipment to the field from the right point, at the right time and very quickly. Thanks to the management units we have established in Mahmutbey and Silivri Parkköy, we will be able to ensure more effective coordination between our units in times of disaster and crisis and manage the intervention processes from a single center. With all these studies, we increase the service power of our administration. We have also created our operational capacity to maintain Istanbul's drinking water and wastewater services even under the most difficult conditions.

“WE OPENED OUR BEŞİKTAŞ ADDITIONAL SERVICE BUILDING”

The total value of these logistics centers we have built is 292 million lira at current prices. Of course, it is not enough to just open the logistics center; it is also necessary to put materials in it. This price does not include the materials we put inside. Another important investment that we will open today is İSKİ Beşiktaş Additional Service Building. Beşiktaş is working together with Sarıyer. As a result of the investigations, it was determined that the current building of our Beşiktaş-Sarıyer branch office needed to be renewed against a possible Istanbul earthquake. During this process, our colleagues worked at different service points of our administration. We quickly demolished the building, and therefore some of our technical units worked temporarily in our treatment facility in Baltalimanı for a period of time. Subscriber units also provided service at our Kağıthane Branch Directorate. In the meantime, we quickly built our Beşiktaş Additional Service Building, which is earthquake-resistant, right next to the Beşiktaş building we demolished, in its garden.

“OUR INVESTMENTS ARE AROUND 500 MILLION LIRAS”

Behind a strong public service, there is a strong team that works day and night with effort, knowledge and awareness of responsibility. İSKİ is an important, large and strategic institution that provides uninterrupted service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all over Istanbul. Thousands of İSKİ workers serve this city, from our teams responding to malfunctions to our colleagues working in our treatment plants, from our laboratories to our call centers. The health and working conditions of our colleagues who undertake this great responsibility are very valuable to us. With this understanding, we completed the health service building we built in our general directorate campus in Eyüpsultan during this period and we have put it into service as of today. Thus, while we facilitated our colleagues' access to health and emergency services, we ensured that these services were provided in a more convenient, safer and contemporary environment. Our health service building is not just a new physical structure; This building is a concrete expression of the value we give to İSKİ workers who work with great devotion for Istanbul. "As of today, the total investments we have put into service are around 500 million liras."

FROM NURİ ASLAN TO İMAMOĞLU: WE ARE IN TRUST UNTIL YOU ARRIVE

Speaking at the ceremony, IMM Deputy Chairman Nuri Aslan said:

“I convey to you the greetings of our Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and Presidential candidate, Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been unlawfully detained in Silivri for more than 1.5 years. President Ekrem had his hearing yesterday, you know. Even when one looks in that courtroom, one should be in a bad mood, there should be a perception that we should fall into despair; But when you see that determination and hope in President Ekrem, you stand up again and set out to serve your country, your flag, your nation, your state. We saw yesterday that our President's morale and motivation are very high. He knows he's right. He trusts the guardian of Istanbul's 16 million people and you, his fellow travelers, very much. Because he knows that serving Istanbul is the greatest prayer. He has been in a great struggle to serve Istanbul day and night since 2019, and yesterday he turned to me and said, 'I trust all my friends, Istanbul is entrusted to you and 16 million.' From here I say: 'Your trust is in safe hands, it has a special place in our hearts, don't worry; "We have this trust until you come."

"We continue to keep an eye on Istanbul. We continue to work day and night. "Believe me, we cannot make it to the openings," said Nuri Aslan and continued his words as follows:

"We actually had to open at 5 or 6 points right now; But there is nothing to do anymore, everything is so stuck. We have approximately 90 openings waiting in line. On the one hand, we are making openings, building infrastructure and superstructure; On the other hand, we are trying to support the people of Istanbul in these difficult economic conditions. On the one hand, our City Restaurants, on the other hand, our Children's Activity Centers, on the other hand, our dormitories, and on the other hand, our Education Support Package with 8.7 billion... Now, we will announce it next week, hopefully, our friends have reached the end of their work, we will announce a 'Family Support Package' worth around 25-30 billion lira. In this country, in Istanbul and in Türkiye, no one is alone. No one should feel alone; because IMM is always with you."

"THE NATION SEE WITH THEIR EYES WHAT IS DONE"

Stating that they opened logistics centers in Bağcılar Mahmutbey, Eyüpsultan, Silivri Parkköy and Selimpaşa, Nuri Aslan said:

"These logistics centers are normally places where ISKI provides logistics services to provide easier logistics services and to serve the region in a shorter way in case of a malfunction or work. However, when a disaster occurs, they will also be used as a gathering area, a shelter area, a food support area. They ask, 'What are you doing?' It rained. 150 kg of rain fell on a square kilometer, but neither the Haramidere nor the Ayamama Stream overflowed. We did this after 2019. As we said, 'Ingenuity is subject to compliment', we did it and we succeeded. Neither did the sea and the land merge in Üsküdar. This nation sees what was done with its eyes and hearts. "This nation has always embraced those who serve it, the children of the Republic, and will continue to do so."