Although Adana is among the few metropolitan cities that do not have a metro, the light rail system's second stage project was not included in the 2 investment program by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar, who met with the press, stated that the traffic problem cannot be solved without the Adana Metro. Karalar also stated that the statement that the project was not included in the program on the grounds that the borrowing limit was exceeded did not reflect the truth.
Karalar said, "Adana cannot be without a metro," and added, "We do not know why it was not approved. If we have a deficiency, we will complete it and send it again.”
"IT IS NOT TRUE THAT THE MUNICIPALITY EXCEEDED THE DEBT LIMIT"
Karalar, who came together with the press in the municipality, stated that after taking office, they switched to a plus in the municipality's balance sheet, which was negative.
According to the Municipality Law No. 5393, the amount of internal and external debt stock of Metropolitan Municipalities, including interest, cannot exceed one and a half times the total budget revenues.
AKP Adana Deputy Jülide Sarıeroğlu claimed in her social media posts that the debt and income ratio of the municipality is at the level of 1,9, and argued that the project should not be included in the investment program.
Stating that the statement does not reflect the truth, Zeydan Karalar stated that the debt of the municipality is approximately 1,32 times the budget, and that they are below the borrowing limit and that they will send the project again.
“THE BASIC CALCULATION MUST BE CHANGED WHEN DETERMINING MUNICIPAL SHARES”
Expressing that the financial shares from the central budget are lower than the provinces with similar populations, Karalar said, “Although it is more crowded and has a larger area than Mersin and Hatay, we receive a lower share. Our population is equal to Konya, but we still get low. We are not saying to cut them and give them to us. We say that we should buy more than them on every platform. My goal is to balance income and expenditure by the end of 2022," he said.
Expressing that Adana is an old and historical city, Karalar said, “Great things need to be done. This requires serious money. In order to eliminate this injustice done to Adana, let's express this wall” and stated that the basic calculation should be changed in determining the shares of the municipalities.
Expressing that the issue concerns the whole of Adana, Karalar said, “I am making a call to our deputies, chambers and non-governmental organizations from here. Let them unite and pursue this situation in Adana. I think that if we tell our President that we want the metro for Adana in a correct and good cooperation, he will support and approve. All of our wishes are ours for Adana. We will also prepare the second stage of the metro and the light rail system project from the north of the city and submit it to the file again. When this project is completed, Adana traffic will breathe a sigh of relief,'' he said.
Source: UNIVERSAL
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