IMM President Ekrem İmamoğluspoke at the event held for the passage of the TBM device that performs the digging process of the Kaynarca-Pendik-Tuzla metro line. Saying, “We are approaching the end of the financial studies for the purchase of 100 new vehicles to operate on this line,” İmamoğlu said, “We received approval for external borrowing from the Metropolitan Municipality Council this month. This is also pleasing. I would like to thank all the political party groups in the IMM Assembly. I advise every political party group not to keep us waiting for other vital issues for Istanbul and to keep up with us quickly. We are in such a hurry. We want to finish the work as soon as possible and continue with the other part,” he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) President Ekrem İmamoğluspoke at the event held for the passage of the TBM (Tunel Boring Machine) device, which will perform the digging process of the Kaynarca-Pendik-Tuzla metro line, which will be one of the most key transportation points on the Anatolian Side of the city. Stating that the population of Istanbul approaches 2 million when we include 20 million refugees, university students and tourists, İmamoğlu said, “The most important network of transportation is rail systems and subways. Unfortunately, our Istanbul is late in this regard. We are working hard to quickly close the gap on this issue," he said.
“TARGET FOR 2050: TO BE CARBON NEUTRAL CITY”
Saying, “We carry out our business effectively on a number of metro lines that can be called a world record,” İmamoğlu said, “If we include the lines built by the Ministry of Transport, this record is actually even higher. When we look at it in terms of the number of metro and kilometers built in a city, it reaches a record number. Of course, there is another aspect of this subway business. It is a very important work for Istanbul in terms of being environmentally friendly, reducing and minimizing carbon emissions, and environmental awareness, as well as being beneficial in terms of speed in transportation, reliability and especially time management. As the city of Istanbul, we are a city that has set the goal of being a carbon neutral city regarding its 2050 goals.”
“FOLLOW US QUICKLY”
Giving the good news that they will put the Pendik-Kaynarca section of the line into service at the end of 2023, İmamoğlu said:
“Here, we will have completed a very important stage for our citizens to reach Sabiha Gökçen. We have now achieved an improvement of 15%. Our second stage will be between Kaynarca Center and Tuzla. We aim to open this section with six stations and over eight kilometers in 2025. We are approaching the end of the financial studies for the purchase of 100 new vehicles to operate on this line. This month, we received approval from our Metropolitan Municipality Council for external borrowing. This is also pleasing. I would like to thank all the political party groups in the IMM Assembly. I advise every political party group not to keep us waiting on other issues that are vital for Istanbul and to keep up with us quickly. We are in such a hurry. We wish to finish the work as soon as possible and continue with the next part.”
“EVEN LESS THAN 650 KILOMETER”
Sharing the information that the effective rail system in Istanbul is at the level of 250 kilometers, İmamoğlu pointed out that this level is low. Emphasizing that the targeted number of 650 kilometers will be insufficient over time, İmamoğlu said:
“As it stands now, we have around one-third the number. And we, with fast steps, will bring this business to 51 percent. The projects we have done and will do today will become insufficient again in 5 years, not just 10 years. In this respect, in order for these works we do to bring the future of Istanbul to a peaceful process, it is also necessary for Istanbul to work in a disciplined manner, with a transparent management approach where all minds can really talk at the same table and decide together, and mechanisms must be formed. . Hopefully, we will plan the future of Istanbul together in the most mature and correct way, and we will have brought Istanbul to a peaceful process in transportation in the very near future. But for us, the main meeting is the end of these works. It is the day we put our citizens on those subways. I hope that God will complete it without any accident, trouble and trouble. I sincerely thank all my working friends, all my working brothers here and all our contractors, our colleagues and everyone who contributed.”
ALPKÖKIN: “A LINE JOINING THE MISSING PARTS”
In her speech at the event, IMM Rail Systems Department Head Pelin Alpkökin said, “Our 8th TBM, which we have been operating on the Anatolian Side since you took office. If we look at the business scenario of our line; KadıköyA train coming from Istanbul will be integrated into the Sabiha Gökçen line, which is currently under construction by our Ministry of Transport, and will be able to go to Sabiha Gökçen Airport. Or, a passenger who boards from Pendik center will go to Sabiha Gökçen Airport without a stop. Still KadıköyOne of our passengers, who gets on from Istanbul, will be able to come from Tavşantepe to Kaynarca center without any transfer. Therefore, this is a very important line that connects the missing parts within the transportation network of the Anatolian Side.”
ISKI RISE QUESTION
After the speeches, İmamoğlu took a photo with the construction site workers and answered the questions of the journalists about the agenda after the event. The questions of journalists and İmamoğlu's answers to the questions were as follows:
– There is a claim that İSKİ was given a secret raise. The AK Party group claims that a secret raise was made without a parliamentary decision.
“There is no such a raise. Here, unfortunately, in the previous resolution, it will be seen that when the Parliament's decision is read in full, it was said that 'it will enter into force provided that the relevant institutions are asked'. We put it into effect though. But after the decision taken by the Court of Accounts, İSKİ has incurred us a tax debt of more than 150 million liras, although we did not exercise such a right, although we did not exercise it, as if we had implemented it, in only a short period of time. We structured it and started to pay for it. So we are faced with such a situation. The Court of Accounts has a clear and concrete decision here. And there is a government agency that duly collects the value added tax from us. We are paying VAT on a tax that we did not receive from the citizens, that is, at the moment. Therefore, this is a legal situation, not a decision that we take individually. The İSKİ board of directors had to take such a decision and had to implement it. I think İSKİ will explain its justifications to the press, it has already been explained.”
“I AM IN THE METRO TUNNELS, NOT THE TURBULENT CREATED”
– There are statements by Meral Akşener, that Mansur Yavaş and you are welcome to be candidates, and that he will not say 'No'...
“I am a human being outside of all these discussions. That is to say, what is spoken, what is not spoken, what is written, what is drawn, what is done, what is not done... There is a part of us that is trying to get us into this turbulence every day in some way, even if we are not interested at all. A turbulence is being experienced and they are trying to keep us in that turbulence. I am not in that turbulent tunnel, but I am in the subway tunnels just now and I am trying to provide service to Istanbul. And we are working hard on this. We have become the city that produces the most metro in the world; in just two years. Our whole country applauds our success. I also recommend and invite the minds who are trying to discuss us on television in a negative way. It is an open invitation; Let them come, one day, let's show them around our 10 metro lines. Let them talk a little. Our nation wants to deal with real business. These are the services we are currently producing. There is also a real issue in our country. That is poverty, unemployment, increase in foreign exchange, the costs created by this increase, the costs that every citizen in our country puts a burden on, the costs that the institutions put a burden on... While the economy has an agenda, I will not be a tool for people who want to knead the process with another agenda other than this one. My agenda is to provide services to Istanbul, and Turkey's agenda is economic problems.”
LINE RELATED INFORMATION
The former Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) administration launched the Kaynarca-Pendik-Tuzla metro line, which consists of 13 independent metro lines with 9 stations of 2 kilometers, in 2017. The works on the Pendik-Kaynarca line of 4,9 kilometers with 2 stations and the Kaynarca-Tuzla lines of 9,10 kilometers with 7 stations were stopped in 2 due to insufficient funds, while their physical progress was at the stage of 2018 per thousand. Ekrem İmamoğlu IMM, under the management of IMM, provided a loan of 8 million Euros from the French Development Agency on November 2019, 86, to be used in the financing of the two lines, which are among the stopped metro investments. With this loan obtained in February 2020, the works on the lines were restarted. With the Eurobond issuance in December 2020, a further 34 million Euro financial contribution was provided to the project.
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