Opening Ceremony of Düzce Sustainable Urban Mobility
Plan (SUMP) Project, which is implemented under the Transport Sectoral
Operational Programme in the second period of the Instrument for Pre-Accession
Assistance (IPA) provided by the European Union to candidate countries and of
which Düzce Municipality is the End Beneficiary, was held on 8 January 2024 in
Düzce with the participation of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure
Mr. Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
In the ceremony, which attracted great
interest from all stakeholder groups in the city, opening speeches were
delivered by Mr. Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure,
Mr. Selçuk Aslan, Governor of Düzce, Mr. Dr. Faruk Özlü, Mayor of Düzce, Mr.
Burak Aykan, Director General for EU Affairs and Foreign Relations from the
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Head of Operating Structure, and Attaché
Mr. Christian Ballaro, Energy, Environment and Climate Change Programme Officer
from the EU Delegation to Türkiye.
Mr. Christian Ballaro indicated the
importance of these projects for EU and shared examples of project works
carried out in other major cities of Türkiye.
Mr. Burak Aykan provided information about
the Transport Sectoral Operational Programme and the general outlines of the
Düzce SUMP project implemented under this programme.
Dr. Faruk Özlü stated that as the
Municipality they attach great importance to this Project, and Mr. Selçuk Aslan
stated that these works of Düzce set an example for many provinces of our
country.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir
Uraloğlu stated that Türkiye has a population of 85 million and underlined that
93% of the population in Türkiye now lives in urban area and therefore our
provinces and settlements should be reviewed in a way to meet this increasing
service need. For this reason, Minister Uraloğlu who stressed the need to
accelerate efforts to spread sustainable urban mobility projects, indicated
that an exemplary work among the Municipalities of the same scale in Türkiye has
been implemented here.
Following the opening speeches, the event
continued with the Team Leader Bas Govers’ presentation on Düzce Sustainable
Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). Mr. Govers discussed the main components of
sustainable urban transport plans and how these elements can be reflected to the
scale of Düzce.
In the afternoon session, a panel on
"Urban and Mobility Planning for the Sustainable Future of Düzce:
Reflections from Experts" was held under the moderation of Tijen İğci
(PhD), Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure-Head of Department for EU
Investments.
In her opening speech of panel Mrs. İğci
(PhD) stated that the climate crisis is a global issue affecting everyone's
lives, and that they will continue to support our cities both in the fields of
sustainable urban transport and intelligent transport systems as well as
disaster resilience in the 3rd Period of Instrument for Pre-Accession
Assistance (IPA).
Akif Türkel, Programme Manager for Transport
Sector of EU Delegation to Türkiye, who took floor gave his speech on the
integration of economic planning, urban planning and mobility planning.
Following that, Tonny Bosch, Director of MOVE
Mobility, shared examples from his own experience with the audience.
The session continued with the presentation of Bekir Ilıcalı, General Manager of Palye Teknoloji and speech on importance of road safety by of Celal Tolga İmamoğlu, Manager of WRI Türkiye, both partners of the Contractor Consortium.
The panel has ended with
a speech on smart city technologies and digital solutions by Patrick van
Egmond, who serves as Key Expert in the Project and who is the Managing
Director of the LuxMobility, one of the partners of the Contractor Consortium.