Kocaeli
SUMP Project, financed under the Sectoral Operational Programme for Transport, managed
by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye within
the scope of Türkiye - European Union financial cooperation, has been completed
after a successful and intensive 24-month working period. The Closing Event of
Kocaeli SUMP Project, which started in August 2022 for a more accessible and
sustainable Kocaeli, was held on 08 August 2024.
The
event was hosted by the Mayor of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Assoc. Dr. Tahir Büyükakın and attended by
representatives of relevant institutions and organisations, universities,
professional chambers, district municipalities, media organisations,
associations, universities and NGOs across Kocaeli. The Ministry of Transport
and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye, the Contracting Authority of the
project, was represented by Tijen İğci (PhD), Head of Department for EU
Investments.
The
program started with the introduction film of the project. Philippe Calvie,
Project Team Leader on behalf of EGIS and Boğaziçi Consortium, the contractor
of the project, made the opening speech and stated that this is not actually a
closing, but an opening for the implementation phase of the project.
Afterwards,
Tijen İğci (PhD), Head of Department for
EU Investments of the Ministry of
Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye, delivered her speech
and stated that Kocaeli SUMP was the first SUMP project to be completed under
the IPA (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance) II period and that the
project was successfully completed without any disruption during the process.
The
first session of the event ended with the speech of Assoc. Dr. Tahir Büyükakın,
Mayor of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. Büyükakın mentioned the difficulty
of planning for Kocaeli's growing population and the importance of sustainable urbanisation
and stated that the Kocaeli SUMP project provides sustainable urban mobility
strategies with a 30-year foresight with a different perspective from
traditional plans in this respect. In addition, Büyükakın presented the planned
applications and targets with numerical data.
In
the second session of the event, a panel discussion was held under the
moderation of Adem Koç, Contract Manager of the European Union Investments
Department of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye.
In the panel, Project Team Leader Philippe Calvie and Project Coordinator Melike
Sarım Boynuyoğun on behalf of EGIS-Boğaziçi Project Consortium, Kocaeli
Metropolitan Municipality Transportation Planning Branch Manager and Kocaeli
SUMP SRER Deputy Cüneyt Çetintaş, Kocaeli Bicycle and Nature Sports Association
(KOBİDOS) representative Yüksel Akarsu on behalf of all stakeholders answered
the questions of Adem Koç.
Adem
Koç asked Team Leader Philippe Calvie the question "As the Team Leader of
the Kocaeli SUMP project, could you tell us about the process from the
beginning to the end of the project, considering your previous SUMP
experiences?". Calvie talked about his previous Sustainable Urban Mobility
Plan project experiences together with the Kocaeli SUMP process. Afterwards,
Boynuyoğun gave a detailed presentation on the project's working process,
stakeholder engagement activities, the results achieved and the 2053 targets.
After this presentation, moderator Adem Koç gave the floor to Cüneyt Çetintaş
to talk about his experiences as the beneficiary institution. Çetintaş shared
his experiences with explanations that will contribute to other ongoing
projects. Lastly, Adem Koç emphasised stakeholder engagement, which is an
important point of the project, and gave the floor to Yüksel Akarsu, who shared
his experiences with the Kocaeli SUMP stakeholder engagement process and his
expectations especially regarding the use of bicycles on behalf of KOBİDOS
Association.
Kocaeli
SUMP Project Closing Ceremony, which was attended by approximately 200 people
from many different institutions and organisations, ended with the wishes that
it would be beneficial for Kocaeli and an example for other projects.