Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW..BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE lA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZET;
Some years ago the project administrators
were accused of focusin!Z too much on the
supe:stru~tural a.spects of the projec.t and
thus Ignonng the mfrastructure dimensIOn.
Ünver responds: "A comprehensive study
Ill}. the ~f,~g,ionhas .produced a total. of 240
w. f(\lS~.'ljct.\Ire. pr9\~cls. to, ~o ,hand I,n h.~nd
.with tbe, main pr~ect. They mclude .'ll' I?ch
selection of urban development, drlnkmg
'water, sewage. irrigation, electricity and
telecommunications schemes.
"Today we have completed all infrastructure
works in towns with
10,000 plus. The political
a population of
authority often
reveals its commitment to the full-scale realization
of both the urban and the rural infrastructure
design of the region," he said.
The significance of the infrastructure
aspect has been clearly underlined by the
sCientific facts and figures.
"The unit cost of mfrastructure in ~Irnak
township would automatically triple if the
residents here ll1igrate to, say. the city of
tzmir," explains Unver.
Recently, there have been reports that
financial'
'struction
bottlenecks put a halt to the conof
Urfa Tunnels, the world's
largest i~~ation tunnels at 25 feet in diameter.
The urfa Tunnels were designed so as
to oive life to the arid Harran Plain.
fhe problems, however, stem directly
from skyrocketing cement prices, which put
the.contracting firm into financial difficulty.
The Turkish Daily News learned from
State Hvdraulic Works authorities that the
originai agreement with Akpmar tn~aat, the
contractor of the tunnels, states that the payments
to this firm should be made in terms
of the U.S. dollar, as a sort of precaution to
protect the company from the erosion of
mflation.
Yet the Turkish lira depreciation against
the dollar has fallen much short of the
increase in cement prices, thus causing losses
for the contractor.
Akpmar applied to the government for
compensation, but no decision has been
made so far.
Were there any financial problems delaying
the entire project? "No, there are no
problems on an integrated level. One can
Imagine there may be delays and problems
on individual project levels in an integrated
project of 495 projects. But I can say that
there are no serious problems to delay the
entire project," he noted.
Ünyer commented: "It is very fortunate
that financial problems that the GAP has
had to face are at the minimum. Such problems
occur very rarely and are then resolved
very quickly. This ste~~ from the f~ct that
there IS undisI>uted polttlcal and SOCialconsensus
on the GAP.'
Asked whether the bu~~etary constraints
may delay the project, unver said that a
financial blockage to the routine development
of the project is very likely beca~s~ of
the commitments of the present political
authority.
"Moreover, the economic returns of th~
individual projects w!1l increase
passage of time, helpmg finance
wit~ the
the lOte.
grated project. The GAP is no more a pro-
Ject whose returns would be obtained in the
future," he added.
Upon a landmark visit to the povertystricken
Southe~t in spri~g 1993, President
Süleyman Demirel had given orders for an
economic revival package to boost econom;
ic activity. The State Planning 9rganization
(OPT) concluded a comprehenSIVe study on
the r.rogram and policymakers decided that
the 'Eastern Anatolia Action Plan" should
be properly coordinated with the GAP.
"The OPT designed the plan in coordination
with our experts. I refer to a five-year
perspective plan that details the projects to
be undertaken by our transportation, aoricul>
tural and infrastructural programs," Dnyer
explains.
"The plan well reflects the intçgrated
characteristics' of the GAP.1t aims to raise
the social indicator's of the region at least to
the national averages."
He also points to some aspects that are
usually ignored when such deve~opment
projects are being undertaken: environment
and sustainability. .,
"Sustainability has defimtely Impo~ed a
new condition for all facets of development.
Dr. Olcay Ünver, president of the GAP
Regional Development Administration
..nver graduated from the Middle
East Technical University (METU)
U with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in
1979.
He received his M.S. in Civil
Engineering from the same university in
1981 and, in 1987, eamed a PhD in Civil
Engineering from the University of Texas
in the United States.
He worked as an engineer in the infrastructure
project of Batikent, Ankara; a
research assistant at METU; a research
assistant and a research associate at the
University ofTexas and a staff engineer at
the Lower Colorado River Authority iri
the United States.
He returned to Turkey i,n 1988 and
worked as the water resources specialist at
the GAP Project Management Unit of the
State Planmng Orgamzation, where he
later became a deputy director. In
November 1989, the Pnme Ministry's
GAP Regional Development
Administration was founded and Dr.
Ünver was appointed as the regional
director in SanllUrfa.
In June 1991, he became the president
It has also made rf e~sential to adopt an mtegrated
approach to development, as opposed
to the fragmented,
of the past. '
project-specific approach
We now know that sustainable irrigation
development can be achieved. Mistakes
made in the past, in the developing
. developed countries alike, provide
and the
us valuable
information as to Jhe possible
quences," according to Unyer.
conse-
Experts have been conducting an environmental
impact assessment study in the
Southeast. In the meantime, SOCIOlogists
have been carrying out field studies.
"Social dimension
cancé. We know that
is of great
we should
signifi-
pay due
regard to social sustainability," he said. The
GAP
make
policymakers believe that they will
great use of an exclusive study completed
recently by a group of academicians,
led by Professor W. Henruicxhsmeyer from
Bonn University and Professor Haluk
Kasnakoglu from the Middle East Technical
University.
The study, titled. "GAP Marketing and
Crop Pattern Slùdies" willrepresent a major
guideline to final shaping ~f the agro-business
policies in the region, Unver noted.
of the administration. Dr. Ünver has published
papers in interna~ional journal~ and
conference and symposIUm presentatIOns.
He is a member of nationa[ and international
professional associations and serves
on teclïnical committees.
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