Akkuyu and Black Sea gas statement from Minister Fatih Dönmez

Fatih Dönmez, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, visited the flooded coastal area of ​​Iskenderun, Hatay. Then the two ministers made a joint press statement.

“The problem in electricity and natural gas infrastructure is over”

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, who said that the problems in the electricity and natural gas infrastructure in the earthquake area were almost completely resolved, said, “Individual connection requests may come in places where destruction is very intense. With the decree of our President, the accumulated electricity and natural gas debts of the citizens living in the buildings affected by the earthquake as of the earthquake date were erased. We will meet this as the Treasury,“ he said.

Minister Dönmez stated that the invoicing processes were delayed for 3 months in two districts of Hatay, Adıyaman, Malatya, Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep, where the impact of the earthquake was very intense, and said, “The invoice amounts to be read after 3 months will be collected in 6 equal installments. Our President asked us to make discounts in both electricity and natural gas throughout Turkey. There is a 15 percent discount for all subscribers in electricity and a 20 percent discount for large consumers and industrialists in natural gas,” he said.
Dönmez stated that they are making preparations for the opening of the big projects that they are nearing the end of, and said, “We will land the Black Sea gas in Filyos on the last day of Ramadan. On April 27, we will bring fresh nuclear fuel to Akkuyu, which will be a nuclear facility. Due to the earthquake, we could not open the FSRU ship we brought for Saros. We have completed the largest solar power plant in Europe, in Konya Karapınar. We will also inaugurate it,“ he said.

„With each passing day, we became stronger than the day before“

Minister Karaismailoğlu stated that 55 days have passed after the earthquake disaster and said, “Every day we became stronger than the previous day. Today, we are much stronger. We are taking important steps to leave life to its normal course in our cities. The construction of container cities and the placement of citizens there continue intensively.
Explaining that Iskenderun Port played an important role in the earthquake disaster, Karaismailoğlu said, “The Iskenderun Port played a very important role both in the transportation of logistics here and during the evacuation. We are hosting thousands of earthquake survivors on the ship behind us. We had the opportunity to host earthquake victims on our cruise ships,“ he said.

“We are working for a permanent solution”

Expressing that they made inspections on the beach due to the rising water in Iskenderun, Karaismailoğlu said, “We strengthened the sea fortifications in order to prevent the water entering the city due to the effect of the low winds and winds, but this was a temporary solution. Our friends and teachers are working for a permanent solution.”

Noting that one of the most severe earthquakes in the world was experienced in our country, Karaismailoğlu said, “Our struggle continues in 11 provinces. All ministries of our state and nearly 400 thousand of our friends work in the field. We will continue to take important steps to relieve our citizens. We will make these cities better than before. All our projects in 81 provinces continue at the same pace. We will launch very important projects in the transportation infrastructure. We will open the metro line that will pass through Başakşehir Çam and Sakura Hospital. With the Ankara-Istanbul High Speed ​​​​Train Line; We will connect Ankara, Kırıkkale, Yozgat and Sivas. We will put the 14.5-kilometer Zigana Tunnel, the longest tunnel in Europe, into service. Adana 15 July Martyrs Bridge is one of our important projects. We will open these projects one after another. We will continue the projects throughout Turkey without ever removing the earthquake from our agenda,“ he said.

Afterwards, the two ministers went to the cruise ship where nearly a thousand earthquake victims were staying and had their fast-breaking meal with the earthquake victims.