sr speech 24101

Hello. Before I start, I'll just tell

you what this is about. I'm going to

talk about Istanbul and a project to

build a new bridge across the Bosphorus.

Over the last century, we have witnessed

a rapid urbanization of humanity. The

population in the world is growing in

general, but our urban population is

growing faster. Not because urban people

make more babies, but rather because

people are moving from the countryside

to the cities at a rapid rate.

And we've seen large cities in the past

in history, but when we talk about large

cities, we were talking about 1 million.

Ancient Rome peaked at about 1 million

and then rapidly declined. And we didn't

see 1 million in a city again until

London reached 1 million in the 19th

century.

Now we talk about mega cities. We talk

about cities with 10 million people or

more. Uh a mega city as I said is 10

million or more. Just to give you some

examples, Tokyo has 34 million people.

Guanju in China 25 million and Mumbai 23

million. Now statistics can be

misleading because what's the definition

of a city? Do they mean inside the city

center or do they mean the region of

which the city is is the capital? It's

confusing when people compare city

sizes, but anyway, you get the idea. I'm

talking about lots and lots of people in

a limited space. Istanbul, uh, the

capital of Turkey is a baby when it

comes to mega cities. Uh, it is only 13

million. I say only, still pretty big.

Uh, but the problem with Istanbul is the

projected growth. It is simply out of

control.

Let's look at some of the statistics

from the past. when uh Istanbul was the

capital of the Ottoman Empire

uh in 1914 uh there were 1.1 million

people then after the loss of the empire

uh it quickly declined to half a million

people 10 years later in in 1924 but

then from that dip of a half million it

started to climb rapidly 1955 1 million

inhabitants 1975

2.5 5 million 1995

9 million people and now 2012 we have

13.3 million inhabitants and there is no

sign of the growth rate slowing down the

opposite in fact is the case

now as in any major urban area one of

your big issues is going to be traffic

congestion

and Istanbul is renowned for its chaotic

traffic situation

and there's a new construction project

the idea of which is is to tackle

congestion.

However, it's far from a clear-cut

issue. It's very controversial. In fact,

um those in favor of the project say it

will ease congestion

and those opposed to it say in fact the

opposite is the case. It will make

congestion even worse. So, what exactly

is this? Well, it's a project to build a

third bridge across the Bosphorus from

the Asian side to the European side.

The project has a price tag of some 4.5

billion Turkish lera for now. But of

course, these things have a habit of

growing out of control.

Those in favor say that this bridge,

it's not just a bridge, of course,

there's a motorway as well to link into

it. So, it's not just the bit across the

water, it's the many, many kilometers on

either side as well. And they say that

this new motorway across the Bosphorus

will ease congestion, take the pressure

off the other crossings and take

pressure off the system as a whole. So

that's the theory.

However, those opposed to it say the

opposite is the case. There are some

very angry people in Istanbul at the

moment. To the forefront are

environmentalists.

You have professional qualified urban

planners who are opposed to it and the

residents of the city generally are

opposed to it. They're in fact furious.

And why are they furious?

Well, they say that this extra bridge

will simply create more traffic because

more people will be able to get into the

city and therefore more people will go

and live in that part that hinterland of

the city.

They say that the construction project

will gobble up the last remaining green

areas outside the city and it's going to

cause major problems for the drinking

water of the city as the motorway will

destroy some of the drinking water

reservoirs.

Those opposed to it say far from being

an infrastructure project to improve the

quality of life. This is simply a land

grab. This is a real estate project.

people who own the land, who sell the

land and all the middlemen will get very

very rich and the city will end up

strangled afterwards.

Having listened to both sides of the

argument, uh I must say my view is that

they should not build a bridge. They

should instead take that money. 4.5

billion Turkish LRA is a lot of money

and with that money you could build an

excellent metro network to make life

more bearable for the people who live in

the city. You could improve all the

suburban trains so that people don't

feel the need to move into the city. And

you could improve the feries that cross

the Bosphorus. That kind of money will

buy you a lot of fairies. And these

things, although less spectacular, less

of a legacy for politicians, would

benefit the users rather than the

speculators.

Critics of the project say it stinks of

political corruption. And they give an

example in their criticism. They blame

no one less than the prime minister.

The prime minister has thrown his full

weight behind the project, but not so

long ago, he was opposed to it. And

there's a famous speech of him saying

that a third bridge across the Bosphorus

would be tantamount to murdering

Istanbul. Somehow now, miraculously,

miraculously, he has changed his mind.

Whatever happens, I suggest you keep

your eye on this project. It's going to

be very interesting. Thank you.