Government investments focus on Istanbul
Posted by meb at February 20th, 2008
Government spending for Turkey’s 81 cities in various sectors ranging from health to energy, education and agriculture totaled YTL 21.51 billion last year, according to information from the State Planning Organization (DPT).
Overall, Istanbul loomed large in terms of the amount of investments it drew over the period, revealed DPT data on the distribution of government investments in the cities. In terms of investments in infrastructure, the government invested YTL 6.47 billion in transportation and communication, Istanbul ranking first in this category with YTL 1.94 billion. Adana ranked second with YTL 220.1 million in investments, and Bursa was third with YTL 203.3 million. İzmir’s investments totaled YTL 70.3 million, while investment for Ankara was YTL 45.6 million. Among Anatolian cities, Kayseri, Trabzon, Zonguldak, Antalya, Çorum, Hatay, Tekirdağ, Samsun, Sivas, Erzurum and Sinop attracted large amounts of investment ranging from YTL 42.6 million to YTL 101.3 million. Education and health were major fields of interest in 2007, according to the DPT data. YTL 3.12 billion was invested in education last year, out of which YTL 172.4 million was invested in Ankara, YTL 163.5 million in Istanbul and YTL 74.4 million in İzmir. Kocaeli, Şanlıurfa, Van, Sivas, Eskişehir, Diyarbakır, Antalya, Sakarya, Konya, Hatay, Erzurum and Bursa were also among the cities that drew large investments in education.
Healthcare investment:
Investments in healthcare totaled YTL 1.58 billion in 2007. Istanbul ranked first in the health sector with YTL 99.9 million in investments, and Erzurum ranked second with investments totaling YTL 93 million. Healthcare investments in Ankara, İzmir and Antalya totaled YTL 79.9 million, YTL 58.5 million and 40.9 million respectively. Health related investments in Gaziantep, Hatay, Bursa, Batman, Konya and Kahramanmaraş ranged from YTL 33 million to YTL 42 million. Diyarbakır, İçel, Şanlıurfa, Tokat and Bingöl also attracted large investments in the health sector. Another sector to attract noteworthy interest was agriculture, with investments of YTL 1.73 billion, Konya drawing YTL 95.6 million. Aydın, Balıkesir, İzmir and Kayseri attracted investments ranging from YTL 30 million to YTL 49 million. Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Samsun, Malatya, Gaziantep, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Çanakkale and Bursa also obtained a substantial proportion of investments. However, agricultural investments remained rather low in Ankara and Istanbul. Other government spending totaled YTL 4.69 billion. Investments in the mining, manufacturing, tourism and housing sectors were low. The government invested YTL 783.4 million in mining, YTL 415.2 million in manufacturing, YTL 98.4 million in tourism and YTL 162.5 million in housing.
‘Brand city’ investments to foster tourism:
In order to increase tourism revenues by reviving culture tourism, the government plans to invest over YTL 750 million in 15 Turkish cities by 2023.
Within the scope of the Brand City Project implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Adıyaman, Amasya, Bursa, Edirne, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kars, Konya, Kütahya, Manisa, Mardin, Nevşehir, Sivas, Şanlıurfa and Trabzon were selected as brand cities. The cultural and historic background of the cities were criteria in the selection, said ministry authorities. The ministry designated tourism attraction centers in these cities, each of which will draw investment of at least YTL 50 million. These investments are expected to create noteworthy employment opportunities. The government plans to attract over 60 million tourists by 2023. With an expenditure of $1,350 per tourist, the aim is to achieve approximately $86 billion in tourism revenues. “Each brand city will seek resources [for the projects]… The Ministry will support some of the projects while some others will be supported by external sources such as the European Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),” said an authority from the Ministry.
Source: Turkish Daily News
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