Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerSpeaking at the assembly meeting, where the Metropolitan and ESHOT 2021 final accounts were discussed, and at the general assembly where İZSU's 2021 activity report was discussed, he said, "This table is actually a source of pride for the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality." Soyer evaluated the Gördes Dam as “the most dreadful project causing public loss in Turkey and a real fiasco”.
The second meeting of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality's ordinary assembly meeting in May, Mayor Tunç Soyer It was held at the Ahmed Adnan Saygun Art Center (AASSM) under the administration of In the session, the Plan and Budget Committee Reports came to the agenda regarding the approval of the Final Account of the 2021 Fiscal Year and the Final Account of the Movable Goods by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and the General Directorate of ESHOT. The reports were accepted unanimously.
occasion for pride
Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyerresponded to the opposition with the 2021 figures in the table. Saying, “This picture is actually a source of pride for the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality,” Mayor Soyer said, “When you look at the realization rates, you evaluate the budget performance. It is like that all over the world. The success of the budget is measured by the ratio of your performance in the year you envisage.
“Work is being done to set an example for Turkey”
Referring to the support activities carried out under the umbrella of the social municipality principle, Soyer said, “Really, a great work is being done that will set an example for Turkey in this regard. We have countless services from iftar meals to food packages. We produce more social services than any other municipality in Turkey.”
Stating that not only Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, but also the State of the Republic of Turkey, every citizen of the Republic of Turkey were affected by the increase in foreign exchange, Mayor Soyer stated that 30 district municipalities of the city were provided with non-discriminatory services and said, “Izmir Metropolitan Municipality does not separate any of its districts, regardless of whether there is a joint service protocol or not. will continue to take it.”
“İZTAŞIT is an unprecedented success story in Turkey”
Saying that a subsidy of 16 million TL was made with the İZTAŞIT system, Soyer said, “İZTAŞIT is an unprecedented success story in Turkey. We do public transport. Once the cooperative enters there, we withdraw our vehicles and personnel there. We will have transferred this customer portfolio to you. But we have conditions for that. What are they? You will transport with the standard vehicle we want, you will apply our price tariff, you will stop at our stops and you will serve with the quality of service we provide as ESHOT. When the cooperative fulfills these conditions, a picture emerges where everyone wins. What's happening? ESHOT gets rid of the big load there, it saves tremendously. The income of the cooperative is increasing. The cooperative becomes capable of producing more services. Citizens are very satisfied. It also receives service by entering routes that are not entered by vehicles with high standards. In summary; It is a model implemented only by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey. To give a number again, we transferred approximately 90 buses to municipalities all over Turkey, after the very cost-effective purchase of buses by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Just as we did not make a distinction in the municipalities in Izmir, we did not make that distinction in Turkey. We gave busses to Kütahya Simav, Erzurum Şenkaya and Bergama. These are AK Party municipalities. We, as the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, will continue to provide services to Turkey as much as we can, without making any discrimination.”
“We know that they will work hard for the better”
After the assembly meeting, the İZSU General Assembly was held. At the meeting, the 2021 Activity Report of the General Directorate of İZSU, the Final Accounts and Balance Sheet of the 2021 Fiscal Year Budget, and the 5018 Fiscal Year Supplementary Budget Draft and its annexes, which were prepared in line with the principles of the Public Financial Management and Control Law No. 2022, were discussed and resolved.
We invest in the future
Soyer, who came to the podium after the pro and con speeches, touched upon the activities of IZSU in all details. Reminding the essence of İZSU's 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, Soyer used the following statements:
“When I look back on our three-year actions, I see what a great change has happened in Izmir in each of our goals, and I am proud of it. Most of the investments we make are buried underground or do not attract the attention of anyone other than experts. But we are completing our investments one by one without compromising our goals. Moreover, these investments of our İZSU General Directorate do not only provide solutions to today's problems. We are already undertaking works that will prevent possible problems that may arise in the future. For this, we are investing more than 500 million liras in infrastructure only in the Küçük Menderes basin. This is why we are increasing the capacity of Torbalı and Ayrancılar Treatment Plant with an investment of over 200 million liras. We are digging hundreds of kilometers in the city's busiest, most populated neighborhoods and constructing hitherto neglected rainwater channels. We are establishing a network of underground streams under İzmir that no one has ever seen. Of course, there may be a delay in closing. It is true, we disturb the comfort of our citizens, but we have to do them. We do this by bearing the cost of the inconvenience caused by deteriorated roads, dug streets, and disrupted traffic. Our aim in doing these is to protect İzmir from floods and to clean our one and only Gulf. Moreover, not to make those who will sit in these seats after us say, "We are experiencing these today because these investments were not made in the past". Because we know that if we do not pay this price today, we will be under a much greater conscientious responsibility in the future. We have not forgotten the night of November 1995, when 63 of our people died in the flood waters. The climate crisis is a reality that we now have to face. On February 2 last year, this city experienced one of the biggest rainfalls in its history. About 20 percent of a year's precipitation total fell in a matter of hours, not overnight. We did not call them divine ordained. We did not seek excuses by suggesting much more severe disasters in other cities. We struck the scalpel at the most urgent and critical points… The area around Güzelyalı Polygon Stream was a region where surface waters of a very large basin collected and floods were experienced during heavy rains. We have solved the flood problem with the works and productions we have done in the area around the polygon, Üçkuyular, 16 street and its surroundings, Balçova Hacı Ahmet Creek and Kemeraltı. Within 3 years, we have completed the construction of a total of 196 kilometers of rain water line and rain water separation line. About 130 kilometers of this is in the Gulf Basin. Our productions are currently continuing at 378 points with an investment of 11 million liras, and when these 11 productions are completed, another 110 kilometers of rainwater separation line will be put into service. In 2021, we completed the arrangement work on the 11-kilometer stream line as part of our segregation and flood prevention projects. We carried out maintenance and cleaning work on the 916 kilometer stream line. We cleaned the stream beds by removing a total of 470 thousand 565 tons of waste material. We have completed maintenance and cleaning works in order to effectively and efficiently manage a total of 723 kilometers of rainwater line serving throughout the city. We will resolutely continue our efforts to separate rainwater lines.
“Unfortunately, the tunnel of Gordes Dam also cracked”
Stating that they continue their drinking water investments throughout the city without interruption, Soyer continued as follows:
“Thanks to these efforts, we have already achieved the 2023 percent target set by the General Directorate of Water Management for 30. As of the end of 2021, we reduced the loss and theft rate to 26,99 percent in the central districts and below 30 percent in the surrounding districts. Despite this situation, there are those who talk about the loss of income caused by the lost and illegal in İzmir. But today I will explain to you a real loss of income of İZSU. With its documents and real figures… You know, we have the famous Gördes Dam, which was built by DSI and which should be given 59 million cubic meters of water per year to our city. I say famous because we constantly hear political discourses such as 'Izmir did not have water, we brought water to Izmir'. As we all know, unfortunately, the bottom of this dam was a hole and could not hold enough water. Now, unfortunately, his tunnel has cracked, friends. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. This famous dam reached the highest occupancy rate with 4 percent, sometimes falling to 8 per thousand. The bottom of the dam is a hole. Tunnel crack. DSI cannot supply water to Izmir. But DSI continues to get its money from İZSU. Between 2016 and 2020, our institution paid 55 million 611 thousand 838 TL to DSI. In addition, between 2010 and 2014, 45 million 94 thousand 330 liras 20 kurus principal, 16 million 245 thousand 78 liras 2 cents delay interest, and 61 million 339 thousand 408 liras 22 kurus debt is also structured to be paid. “
“Gördes Dam is the saddest project that causes public loss in Turkey, it is a real fiasco”
“Now let's get to the bullshit. If Gördes Dam could hold water and provide 59 million cubic meters of water per year to our city as promised by DSI, a total of 2011 million cubic meters of water would flow from the taps between 2021 and 649. But it didn't, it didn't flow. Because DSI could only deliver 189 million 791 thousand 252 cubic meters of water during this time. My fellow citizens from Izmir were deprived of 459 million 208 thousand 748 cubic meters of water. Well, when we calculate over the water tariffs determined according to the years between the years 2011-2021, what is the income loss suffered by İZSU from the water that DSİ could not provide according to the protocols? 1 billion 732 million 980 thousand 323 lira 25 cents! Fair trade, right? What would happen if İZSU could obtain this income? Our treatment plant, which was established in Bornova Kavaklıdere only to purify the water coming from Gördes and bring it to drinking water quality, would not become an idle operation. With the income it received, İZSU would be able to allocate more resources to the investments that our city needs as a whole. In summary, DSI makes the six hole dam, İZSU pays for it. Water cannot be supplied from that dam, the people of İzmir pay the price. The same dam dries up the Marmara Lake and drives the villagers out of their homes. We are trying to save. If public harm is sought in this country, there is no need to think. The famous Gördes Dam is the saddest project that has caused public damage in Turkey. It's a real fiasco. It has caused billions of liras and our nature to be wasted.”
“Isn't İzmir one of the 81 provinces of this country?”
Touching on the criticisms about drinking water prices, Soyer said, “So you say that there will be an economic destruction in the country that increases the cost of production of all goods and services from needle to thread, but İzmir Metropolitan Municipality should not reflect this on its prices. Friends, isn't Izmir one of the 81 provinces of this country? How can a municipality not be affected by the general conditions of the country? But I have a more realistic proposal to regulate water prices in favor of our citizens. DSİ should not ask for money from İZSU until this project is fully functional for the Gördes Dam, which has a hole in the bottom, a cracked tunnel, and cannot bring water to the citizens. Let İZSU fix the amount to be paid from now on as the principal, without the interest. Have no doubts, the burden of the institution's budget will be reflected in the pockets of the people of Izmir," he said.
Good news for the Gulf; slowly coming back to life after decades
Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyer, also shared a pleasing development from Izmir Bay in his presentation. Presenting examples of underwater photographs taken within the scope of the Oceanographic Monitoring Project carried out by the İZSU General Directorate in cooperation with TÜBİTAK, Soyer said, “This photograph was taken on the Bostanlı Beach during those studies. April 2022. This is a live shellless sea snail, a species that only lives in fresh waters. They have also laid their eggs, which means they will reproduce and take up residence here. Same kind of Bayraklı and was also seen in Konak. It is seen for the first time in the inner gulf. In other words, Izmir Bay is slowly coming back to life after decades.”
İZSU's reports on the agenda were accepted with a majority of votes. Members of the Nation Alliance councilors; admission, members of the People's Alliance council; voted against.
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