The launch event of the “Kocaeli Sustainable Urban Transport Plan (SUMP Kocaeli)” project, which was contracted under the Sectoral Operational Program for Transport in the second term encompassing the years 2014-2020 of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) provided by the European Union to candidate countries, took place at the Kocaeli Congress Centre on September 28. The event was attended by Balamir GÜNDOĞDU, Secretary-General of the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Assoc. Prof. Tahir BÜYÜKAKIN, Kocaeli Metropolitan Mayor, Angel Gutierrez HIDALGO, Head of the Economic Cooperation and Social Section, EU Delegation to Türkiye, and our contract manager Serdar YILMAZ, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Directorate-General of EU and Foreign Affairs, Department of EU Investments, and Alper KAYA, Publicity and Visibility Officer of the same department.
The overall objective of the SUMP Kocaeli project is summarized as to facilitate our country’s and Kocaeli’s economic and social development and integration to the European Union through a transport system that is compatible with European Union standards, competitive, accessible and sustainable. SUMP Kocaeli, which will span a period of two years will focus on fundamental needs to enhance the quality of human life, such as establishing a sustainable, fair, accessible, integrated and inclusive transport system, reducing traffic volume and congestion by decreasing dependency on vehicles, and boosting pedestrian and bicycle transport.
The expected outcomes of the project are:
- Establishing
a Sustainable Urban Transport Plan for the Kocaeli planning framework,
- High
inclusion of stakeholders and citizens in the process,
- Analysis
of planning practices and legal status,
- Analysis
of Kocaeli’s mobility
- Defining
shared vision, goals and objectives for Kocaeli,
- Enhancing
personnel capacity within the scope of the project,
- Managing
the project through promotional and visibility activities for the purposes of
awareness-raising,
- Alleviating
traffic congestion and enhancing citizens’ access to their needs,
- Decreasing
air and noise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption,
- Establishing
low-emission zones, defining management policies,
- Ensuring a high level of accessibility,
- Lowering
time spent in transport as well as improving conditions, thus enhancing
citizens’ quality of life.
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