Erdoğan vows steps worth $4.5 bln for next 100 days
ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 13 that 454 projects worth nearly $4.5 billion will be completed as part of his second 100-day action plan.
“The government was projecting a 43 billion Turkish Lira budget for the 400 actions in plan, but spent 37.3 billion on the actions that were finalized,” Erdoğan said, while presenting the second 100-day action plan of his executive presidential term.
He announced the Turkey Development Fund would boost private capital investments and generate alternative funding for high technology investments.
The Financial Stability and Development Committee will be established to strengthen financial stability and develop the finance sector, he noted.
He added that Turkey was also in efforts to use local currencies in trade with 12 countries.
The Foreign Ministry will start new initiatives abroad to target the financing of supporters of the PKK and Fethullah Gülen, the president said.
Turkey says that followers of Gülen were behind the July 2016 attempt to topple the Turkish government, when soldiers linked to FETÖ commandeered tanks and helicopters and attacked parliament and gunned down unarmed civilians.
The second 100-day action plan also included transport projects to be announced for the productions, and the tender announcements of Kanal Istanbul and the Grand Istanbul Tunnel projects will be published during this period.
Eight additional historical mosques and social complexes will be restored as part of the next 100-day program. He also noted Turkey will sign an agreement for the Akıncı project, a high-altitude long-endurance unmanned armed aircraft.
Erdoğan said they will start the construction of a part of TurkStream Natural Gas Pipeline project in Turkish territories and will finish it by the end of 2019. TurkStream is an export gas pipeline set to cross beneath the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and also further extend to Turkey’s borders with neighboring countries. Visa exemption talks with Russia will also be accelerated, he noted.
Erdoğan announced that the government will introduce new measures on the 35-km strip of the Turkish-Iranian frontier including border lighting, CCTV coverage, and security sensors. A 1.6 million-square-meter area — now unusable due to mines and unexploded ordnance — will be cleared, he noted.
He also announced the government will launch a program and open centers to reduce obesity rates in the country.
The first 100-day action plan reached a 97 percent realization performance rate despite problems with relevant institutions, he said, adding that the government completed 340 out of 400 items laid out in the plan.
The first 100-day action plan, revealed on Aug. 3, included more than 1,000 projects.
The government was projecting a 43 billion Turkish Lira budget for the 400 actions in plan, but spent 37.3 billion for the actions that were finalized, he stated.