7TH PROJECT STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING WAS ORGANIZED

The 7th Project Steering Committee Meeting of the 'Technical Assistance on Preparation of River Basin Management Plans for 6 Basins' project co-financed by the European Union and Türkiye within the scope of the IPA-2 period of the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance was held on 15 October 2024 at Ankara Wyndham Hotel and hybrid via Zoom. 

İstanbul Deputy Governor Cengiz KARABULUT, Kastamonu Deputy Governor Ahmet ATILKAN, Mersin Deputy Governor Dr. Mehmet Ali ÖZKAN, Zonguldak Deputy Governor Muammer BALCI, Director General of Water Management Ms Afire SEVER, Deputy Director General of Water Management Mr Dr. Yakup KARAASLAN, Coordinator of the European Union Delegation, Department of EU Investments Technical Implementation Branch Manager Efe PARLAK, Contract Manager of the Department of EU Investments of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Ms Nurnisa ELÇİN, representatives of the General Directorate of Water Management, managers of the Consortium consisting of DAI Global, NFB Engineering and Consultancy, and ACC Consultancy, and the technical assistance team attended the meeting. 97 people participated in the meeting.

In her opening speech, Ms. Afire SEVER, Director General of the General Directorate of Water Management, stated that among the duties of the General Directorate of Water Management, which was established in 2011 and assigned by Presidential Decree No. 1, are to prepare and publish national policies and strategies and related legislation and to prepare river basin management plans, flood and drought management plans, sectoral water allocation plans.

Stating that determining the impact of climate change on water resources and determining the necessary measures are among these duties, Ms SEVER emphasized the importance of optimizing financial resources. Ms. SEVER stated that the pressures and impacts on water resources are identified and necessary measures are determined, and emphasized the importance of optimizing financial resources in this regard. Ms. SEVER stated that many projects on capacity building and plan preparation have been realized with the support received from the European Union on the management of water resources, and with the completion of the 6RBMP Project, which is also being carried out with the support of the European Union, basin management plans will be completed in 18 of the 25 basins in Türkiye. She drew attention to the importance of implementing river basin management plans prepared under the Water Framework Directive, which is one of the main legislations of the European Union on water management and regulates the integrated and basin-based management of water. She stated that support from international financial institutions has also been received for implementing these plans and that the implementation of these plans is of critical importance. Ms. Director General concluded her speech by thanking all project parties for their efforts and work.

The presentation on 'Progress of the Project between 24 July 2024 and 15 October 2024' was presented by Dr. Emre KÖKEN, Acting Team Leader. The presentation on 'Issues related to Strategic Environmental Assessment, Scoping Reports and Results of Stakeholder Engagement Meetings in River Basin Planning' was presented by Ms. Oytun CEREN, Doğu Akdeniz Basin Responsible.

The presentation on 'Outputs on Sectoral Water Allocation Plans in 6 Basins' was made by Ms. Arzu YALÇIN BOĞA, Senior Project Expert.

The presentation on 'Socioeconomic Considerations under the SWAP, Information on the Results of Stakeholder Engagement Meetings' was delivered by Ms. Aleksandra TOMIC CATO, Key Expert on Economics.

The activities planned for the next three months of the project were presented by Acting Team Leader Dr. Emre KÖKEN.

The 7th Project Steering Committee Meeting ended after the views and comments of the participants were received.