KİPTAŞ General Manager Ali Kurt explained the details of the ‘Istanbul Renewal’ project: Human life is our priority.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’General Manager of KİPTAŞ, one of the subsidiaries of Ali Kurt,our newspaper Republic’ I visited. Our Editor-in-Chief Tuncay Mollaveisoglu’Kurt, who answered our questions during his visit to KIPTAS, told about the urban transformation works of KIPTAS in Istanbul.

Kurt is also a member of the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), which is affiliated to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change. “Half of Us”He also talked about his campaign.

‘THEY DID NOT GO WITH US’

• You started to transform risky structures with the “Istanbul Renewing” project. What about applications in a city waiting for an earthquake?

We have implemented a system for the renewal of risky buildings by saying “Istanbul is Renewing”. We received more than 25 thousand applications from all 39 districts. This equates to over 490 thousand independent units. More than 1.5 million people live here. We said, “Let’s do it together,” when we had a system ready for the ministry. Because the construction costs have increased, we thought that we should not charge the citizens, if we offer an advantageous offer, we can move forward faster. However, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change did not choose to go with us, even though it implemented our system. Renovation of risky structures is above politics. Unless the institutions come together, the problem in Istanbul cannot be solved. At least they found the right way, they started to implement our system. But if we did it together, we could go fast. Unfortunately, they do this with political propaganda as an election environment.

• The Ministry first announced a new urban transformation project, starting from Istanbul. How do you evaluate the “Half of Us” campaign?

This project is exactly the same as the “Istanbul Renewal” project. The same methodology that we use has now started to be used by the ministry. However, it has disadvantages compared to our system.

‘ELECTION INVESTMENT’

• What are these disadvantages?

We impose only one condition on the citizen. It’s a compromise. The terms of the ministry are different. Applications are accepted once up to a certain date range. “If you apply within a month, I will find a solution for you,” he says. Even if there are many applications, the condition of being drawn comes into play. There are life safety problems because people live in risky structures. How can life safety be subject to lots? Like the National Lottery, there should be no thought of “I’ll save your life if it’s in the lottery”. This is a positive pass, but not sincere. It is purely an investment.

(Şeyda Öztürk and Ali Kurt)

‘IBB MEET THE INTERESTS’

• What is the difference between the debt issued by the Ministry to the citizens and the demand by KIPTAS?

The ministry and our construction costs are currently the same. Anyway, neither we nor the ministry determines the construction cost. The Ministry declared that it will cover half of the construction costs with this project. They also offer the opportunity to borrow money for the other half that the citizens will pay. However, this debt will be updated every six months due to reasons such as civil servant salaries and CPI. This means that the ministry says I will pay 750 thousand TL. The reflection of the remaining 750 thousand TL to the citizens with the borrowing is 3.7 million TL. If the citizen borrows through the bank, not the ministry, it equals 1.2 million TL with interest. If there is a cost of 1.5 million TL, we get it interest-free. A more suitable finance option is offered than TOKİ. In addition, IMM covers the interest of our citizens in the lower income group, borrowing more than 1 million TL. Our priority is human life.

‘THEY COMPLETED IN 10 YEARS’

10 thousand TL RENTAL AID

• How do those who want to enter urban transformation apply to KIPTAS?

Those who live in a risky structure register through our system. After registration, we send information to citizens within 7-10 days. After a two-thirds majority is achieved, work begins on a project immediately. We incur a cost over the project. We certainly do not have a profit motive in these projects. If there are more flats as a result of the project, we sell those flats and deduct the cost. The rental support given by the Ministry for urban transformation is 5 thousand 250 TL. We give 8-10 thousand TL rental assistance.

‘WE BUILD SOCIAL HOUSING’

• Which methods does KIPTAS follow?

We work with original architects in all our projects. After the design is finished, we get static and engineering services. After the controls, we make the project accessible to the citizens. We try to use different architects everywhere so that we have an original design. For example, we made a social housing project in Kocaeli İzmit. We made a design similar to a chalet close to the forest area. They criticized us saying that they are building villas in Izmit. However, we built social housing. We sold in fixed installments below the minimum wage in the period we laid the foundation.