Construction Threat Looms Over Lake Eymir

The Ankara Environmental and Urban Planning Directorate is reportedly about to grant a construction license for a 36,750-square-meter area whose boundary is just 150 meters from Lake Eymir and is in an environmentally protected zone.

Ankara Chamber of Architects head Tezcan Karakuş Candan told the Taraf daily on Thursday that the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) of the Ankara Environmental and Urban Planning Directorate released on Oct. 24 shows that the directorate is in the process of granting a construction license for a hotel intended to be used by diplomats that is to be built near Lake Eymir, as well as tourism facilities.

Candan said the area is within the Gölbaşı environmentally protected zone and that the Ankara Environmental and Urban Planning Directorate lowered the current protection level of the lake to that of a second-degree protected area in July, making it possible for tourism facilities to be built near the lake, one of the few green areas where residents of the capital can take a breath of fresh air.

This is the beginning of the end for Lake Eymir, Candan said. Candan also noted that the chamber had tried to draw media attention to the first municipality construction plan for the area in July. Municipality officials did not want the issue to be publicized, as indicated by the omission of a university's name from the amended environmental protection plan. The plan placed on the bulletin board of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality did not mention the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), though the area is part of the university's land. Because of this, even the Ankara Chamber of Architects failed to notice initially that the new plan affected the ODTÜ property. The Ankara Chamber of Architects will go to court for the cancellation of the license, Candan explained.

According to Candan, the entrance road from the Oran neighborhood to Lake Eymir will be closed for security reasons if a hotel is built on the planned area, and new construction will endanger the lake environment.

According to the plan revealed by the Ankara Chamber of Architects, the hotel will have 157 rooms on an area just 150 meters away from the lake and 100 meters away from the İmrahor River, near the Oran-Eymir road. The TL 10 million project also includes two outdoor swimming pools, a green area and recreation sites on an area of 36,750 square meters.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)