‘Allocate Budget for Healthcare, Not for Canal İstanbul’

* Photo: Archive / AA

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The İstanbul Provincial Coordination Council of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) has released a statement about the first tender lodged for Canal İstanbul yesterday (March 26).

Referring to the Covid-19 outbreak, which has claimed the lives of 75 people in Turkey so far, the Council has noted that prioritizing Canal İstanbul, rather than the combat against the pandemic, is unacceptable.

CLICK - First Tender Lodged for Canal İstanbul Project

In its statement released today, the TMMOB has noted that more and more people are given unpaid leaves or dismissed due to mandatory quarantine and people are having difficulties in meeting their most basic human needs such as housing, heating, electricity, water and food.

"While coronavirus pandemic has set the agenda and brought the life to a standstill in Turkey, it is unacceptable that the government officials have prioritized a project of unearned income by lodging the first tender for Canal İstanbul project," the Union has protested.

'The days we go through are not understood'

The Union has briefly stated the following:

"The insistence on a project that will destroy the entire historical accumulation of İstanbul shows that the hard days that the whole world and our country are going through are not understood in any way.

"In this process, it is seen how fragile governments are in terms of healthcare and it is proven how weak the world can be in the face of big risks.

'It will risk people's health'

"During this whole process, the entire humanity has once again remembered the vital importance of science and they have pinned their all hopes on a solution to be developed by scientists.

"For this reason, we repeat it once again: Canal İstanbul project is a project of unearned income which is intended to be legitimized by ignoring the information acquired by innumerous plans, scientific studies and works that have come into being thanks to the years-long accumulation of hundreds of scientists and professionals, several universities, occupational chambers, public institutions and organizations in İstanbul and Marmara Region.

"Scientific information says that this project must not be carried out. The project will cause geographical, environmental, economic, social, urban and cultural devastation and put the ecosystem and human health at risk."

'Spend the budget for health'

Accordingly, making a call to the authorities "to drop the Canal İstanbul project off their agenda immediately", the TMMOB has underlined that "the budget that has been allocated for the project must be spent to meet the basic needs of citizens in an economic impasse due to the outbreak and to remedy the deficiencies at medical institutions."

"Budget for healthcare, not for canal!", the Union has noted. (TP/SD)