Minister Uraloğlu's historic opening: The travel time on the Aydın-Denizli Highway has decreased from 2 hours to 55 minutes.

The opening of the Aydın-Denizli Highway was celebrated with a ceremony at the Aydın Toll Booth. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, as well as Ferhat Nasıroğlu, the owner of Fernas Mining and AK Party Batman Deputy, Aydın Governor Yakup Canbolat, Muğla Governor İdris Akbıyık, and AK Party Aydın Deputy Mustafa Savaş.

"WE ARE EXPERIENCING A VERY IMPORTANT MOMENT FOR AYDIN"

In his speech at the ceremony, Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated, "We are experiencing a very important moment for Aydın, which flows with oil from its mountains and honey from its plains, and Denizli, which is a leading industrial, trade, and tourism center. We share the joy of opening the 70-kilometer section of our Aydın-Denizli Highway, which has a length of 163 kilometers and modern infrastructure, starting from the Aydın Ring Road and ending at the Kuyucak Junction." Reminding that they opened a total of 93 kilometers, including 80 kilometers of the main body and 13 kilometers of connection road, between the Kuyucak Junction at the 60th kilometer of the highway and the Kocabaş Junction at the 140th kilometer last year, Minister Uraloğlu said, "Now we have completed the remaining 70 kilometers and opened the entire highway to traffic. We have constructed a total of 163 kilometers, consisting of a 140-kilometer main road with 6 lanes and a 23-kilometer connection road with 4 lanes. God willing, we will also hold the official opening ceremony of our road in the coming days with the presence of our President."

"WE HAVE STRENGTHENED THE POWER OF OUR TRANSPORTATION NETWORK"

Minister Uraloğlu, who stated that "Today marks the beginning of a new era for our region," continued, "Our cities Aydın and Denizli serve as an important bridge between the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Central Anatolia, intersecting ancient trade routes. The transportation infrastructure of our region, which is a transit point for commercial and tourist traffic, has been significantly strengthened by the previously implemented Istanbul-İzmir Highway and İzmir-Aydın Highway. Now, with the opening of the entire Aydın-Denizli highway to traffic, we have further enhanced the strength of our transportation network in this region."

"WE HAVE REDUCED THE TRAVEL TIME TO 55 MINUTES"

Minister Uraloğlu stated, "The first phase of our highway route, which we opened to traffic earlier, started from Kocabaş and reached Kuyucak by passing through Pamukkale, Kumkısık, Sarayköy, and Buharkent. The second phase, which we are opening today, starts from Kuyucak and ends in Aydın, passing through the districts of Nazilli, Yenipazar, and Köşk. Thanks to our highway, we have reduced the travel time between Aydın and Denizli, which previously took 1.5 to 2 hours via the D-320 state road, to 55 minutes by passing through 11 districts and 46 signalized junctions, depending on traffic conditions."

"WE WILL SAVE A TOTAL OF 5.3 BILLION LIRA ANNUALLY"

Minister Uraloğlu stated that the highway will enable the transportation of industrial and agricultural products to İzmir Port, which is the most important export center in the Aegean Region, much more quickly via Denizli. He said, "We have also made access to important tourist centers such as Pamukkale, Ephesus, Didim, and Kuşadası, which experience increased travel demands during the summer months due to tourism, more comfortable. We will now provide a much more comfortable travel opportunity for domestic and foreign tourists who will visit and stay in the region. Additionally, the ability to reach more points in a shorter time will allow tourists to spend more time in the region and explore different destinations. This will contribute to increasing tourism diversity and the region's economy. It will also lead to an increase in investments in the region and the opening of new tourism facilities, creating new employment opportunities. Just as the Büyük Menderes River, which flows from Denizli and empties into the sea at Aydın Söke, gives life to these lands, this highway will also be a lifeline for the economy of our region. With our highway, we will save 4.5 billion lira in time and 800 million lira in fuel, totaling 5.3 billion lira annually. We will also contribute to the protection of nature by reducing the carbon emissions of vehicles that harm the environment by 61,000 tons," he said.

"GIANT TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENTS HAVE BEEN REALIZED THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP"

Minister Uraloğlu emphasized that many giant transportation investments that carry Turkey into the future, such as the Aydın-Denizli Highway project, have been realized through the public-private partnership model. He stated, "Public-Private Partnership is not only a construction model but also a financing model. We ensure that investments are realized much more quickly with the resources and financing of the private sector without using public funds for projects that require high financial resources. For example, we laid the foundation of our Aydın-Denizli Highway at the end of 2020. We completed our road and opened it to traffic in about 4 years. If we had not implemented this model, we would have been talking about a much longer construction period. Projects that are completed in 7 to 20 years are completed in less than 5 years with the public-private partnership model. For instance, our 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and connection roads project was initially projected to take 5 years, but the contractor company completed the project in 4.5 years. Additionally, since public-private partnership projects are open to international competition, there are also international credit conditions, and this provides foreign currency inflow to our country. For example, just two days ago, we signed contracts to start the construction of our 120-kilometer Ankara-Kırıkkale-Delice and 122-kilometer Antalya-Alanya Highways, which we will bring to our country with this model," he said.

"WE WILL ALSO REALIZE THE DENİZLİ-BURDUR AND BURDUR-ANTALYA HIGHWAYS"

Minister Uraloğlu continued his remarks by saying, "After our Aydın-Denizli Highway project, we will also realize the Denizli-Burdur and Burdur-Antalya Highways in the subsequent phases."

When completed, we will convert the 580-kilometer state road length between İzmir and Antalya into a 440-kilometer highway. We will provide a faster, safer, and more comfortable uninterrupted highway transportation from İzmir to Antalya. Thus, the travel time from İzmir to Antalya will be reduced from 6-7 hours to 3-3.5 hours, bringing the two major tourism centers even closer together. With these feelings and thoughts, I wish that our Aydın-Denizli highway, which we have now fully opened to traffic, will be beneficial and auspicious for all our citizens, especially for those living in the region.

Expressing that the Aydın-Denizli Highway Project is like raising a child and holding a wedding for him, Minister Uraloğlu said, "Starting from my time as the regional director, we worked hard from the project to land identification and drilling, and during my tenure as the general director, we worked on the tender and construction. Now, it has been granted to me to open this project in this position."