The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate for the upcoming municipal elections Murat Kurum expressed his dedication to extra resistant housing for Istanbul, one thing he described as “a national security matter.”
Kurum, who was in command of the bold nationwide “urban transformation” mission whereas serving as Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change, will contest incumbent Ekrem Imamoğlu, “who transformed only 5,000 housing units,” in line with the candidate. Speaking in a televised interview on Thursday, Kurum stated some 650,000 residences had to get replaced instantly in Türkiye’s most populated metropolis. The “urban transformation” mission launched by the AK Party-run authorities envisions the substitute of 1000’s of buildings unsafe within the face of catastrophe dangers with new ones. The authorities supplies incentives to householders, both for the development of recent homes elsewhere or on the location of buildings demolished for the mission. The difficulty is below the highlight after the February 2023 earthquakes that devastated a whole lot of buildings in southeastern Türkiye. Istanbul can be vulnerable to a future earthquake at a magnitude of seven.0 or larger in line with specialists.
Kurum hit out at his fundamental opponent Imamoğlu, who gained the mayoral election for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), a landmark victory after successive losses to the AK Party, and stated he did every little thing whereas in workplace, “except working for Istanbul.” “People of Istanbul are tired of the current administration’s performance in terms of traffic issues and preparedness for earthquakes. They are waiting for the March 31 elections, they want change. We will introduce them to genuine municipal services. People want a happy Istanbul where the traffic plight is resolved, where the mayor’s office will efficiently address the risk of devastation from earthquakes,” he stated.
The congested site visitors that impacts tens of millions is one other main difficulty for individuals of the town who spend greater than three years caught in snarls of their lifetime in line with statistics. “The transportation is the only complaint we hear most. People are talking about long lines they have to wait to board metro and metrobus,” he stated. Mass transportation additionally took a blow below Imamoğlu’s tenure with public buses, trams and metro trains continually affected by breakdowns. The mayor’s critics blame it on poor upkeep of mass transit autos.
The AK Party candidate stated different points the voters complained about included the hazard posed by stray animals, taxis, injustice in social help, and lack of inexperienced areas. “But what people want most is someone caring about them. Being ignored angers them,” he stated. He stated Imamoğlu deserted Istanbulites on the time of disasters throughout his tenure.
The mayor had come below hearth for notoriously having dinner with a diplomat in a complicated restaurant whereas Istanbul was grappling with a serious snowstorm. He stated Imamoğlu spent the municipality finances on publicity as an alternative, claiming they allotted TL 175 million ($5.58 million) for billboards promoting that the Imamoğlu-run municipality ended “waste of municipality resources.” He stated that the Imamoğlu administration additionally spent TL 550 million for 2 concert events, including that they can’t clear up Istanbul’s issues by earmarking municipal funds to such issues. He stated mismanagement of funds led to an increase within the municipality’s money owed, from 2.33 billion euros in 2019 to 4.19 billion euros (TL 142.06 billion).
Speaking on his marketing campaign pledges, Kurum stated they’d prolong Istanbul’s metro traces to 650 kilometers throughout the subsequent 5 years, virtually double the present size. Expanding the mass transportation community of the town of greater than 15 million individuals is among the options to lengthy site visitors jams. “People in Istanbul spend 288 hours every year in traffic. The traffic density was 47% in 2019 and it rose to 64% this year. It rises further to 90% in peak hours. Traffic will worsen without intervention. The current administration pledged to build 230 kilometers of metro lines in five years but they completed only 8 kilometers. We want to end the traffic plight in a decade,” he stated, including that they’d additionally spend money on maritime traces to ease the site visitors within the metropolis divided by sea. He identified {that a} new tunnel can be constructed below the Bosporus, stretching from Incirli on the European facet to Söğütlüçeşme on the Asian facet. He stated they’d additionally buy 100 new metrobuses and 200 public buses. On the parking area drawback, he stated they plan to construct parking tons with a complete capability of 250,000 autos and would supply low cost parking charges.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
