Closing Ceremony of Kocaeli Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (Kocaeli SUMP) Project was held.

Closing Ceremony of Kocaeli Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (Kocaeli SUMP) Project was held.

Kocaeli SUMP Project, financed under the Transport Sectoral Operational Programme, implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey within the scope of Turkey – 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 08.08.2024 with an intense participation.

Kocaeli SUMP Project, financed under the Transport Sectoral Operational Programme, implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey within the scope of Turkey – 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 08.08.2024.

The event was hosted by the Mayor of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Assoc. Prof. 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 Turkey, the contracting authority of the project, was represented by Dr. Tijen İğci, Head of European Union Investments Department.

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, Dr. Tijen İğci, Head of the European Union Investments Department of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey, 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 Mr. Assoc. Dr. Tahir Büyükakın, Mayor of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. Mr. 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, Mr. 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 Mr. Adem Koç, Contract Manager of the European Union Investments Department of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey. 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?”. Mr. 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. Mr. 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.