Murat Kurum pledges mass transformation of Istanbul against disasters
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate for the upcoming municipal elections Murat Kurum expressed his commitment to more resistant housing for Istanbul, something he described as “a national security matter.”
Kurum, who was in charge of the ambitious nationwide “urban transformation” project while serving as Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change, will contest incumbent Ekrem Imamoğlu, “who transformed only 5,000 housing units,” according to the candidate. Speaking in a televised interview on Thursday, Kurum said some 650,000 residences had to be replaced immediately in Türkiye’s most populated city. The “urban transformation” project launched by the AK Party-run government envisions the replacement of thousands of buildings unsafe in the face of disaster risks with new ones. The government provides incentives to homeowners, either for the construction of new houses elsewhere or on the site of buildings demolished for the project. The issue is under the spotlight after the February 2023 earthquakes that devastated hundreds of buildings in southeastern Türkiye. Istanbul is also at risk of a future earthquake at a magnitude of 7.0 or higher according to experts.
Kurum hit out at his main opponent Imamoğlu, who won the mayoral election for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), a landmark victory after successive losses to the AK Party, and said he did everything while in office, “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 said.
The congested traffic that affects millions is another major issue for people of the city who spend more than three years stuck in snarls in their lifetime according to 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 said. Mass transportation also took a blow under Imamoğlu’s tenure with public buses, trams and metro trains constantly suffering from breakdowns. The mayor’s critics blame it on poor maintenance of mass transit vehicles.
The AK Party candidate said other issues the voters complained about included the danger posed by stray animals, taxis, injustice in social aid, and lack of green spaces. “But what people want most is someone caring about them. Being ignored angers them,” he said. He said Imamoğlu abandoned Istanbulites at the time of disasters during his tenure.
The mayor had come under fire for notoriously having dinner with a diplomat in a posh restaurant while Istanbul was grappling with a major snowstorm. He said Imamoğlu spent the municipality budget on publicity instead, claiming they allocated TL 175 million ($5.58 million) for billboards advertising that the Imamoğlu-run municipality ended “waste of municipality resources.” He said that the Imamoğlu administration also spent TL 550 million for two concerts, adding that they cannot solve Istanbul’s problems by earmarking municipal funds to such things. He said mismanagement of funds led to a rise in the municipality’s debts, from 2.33 billion euros in 2019 to 4.19 billion euros (TL 142.06 billion).
Speaking on his campaign pledges, Kurum said they would extend Istanbul’s metro lines to 650 kilometers within the next five years, almost double the current length. Expanding the mass transportation network of the city of more than 15 million people is one of the solutions to long traffic 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 said, adding that they would also invest in maritime lines to ease the traffic in the city divided by sea. He pointed out that a new tunnel would be built under the Bosporus, stretching from Incirli on the European side to Söğütlüçeşme on the Asian side. He said they would also purchase 100 new metrobuses and 200 public buses. On the parking space problem, he said they plan to build parking lots with a total capacity of 250,000 vehicles and would offer discount parking fees.
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