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ANKARA: Istanbul's budget larger than 80 country's

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  • ANKARA: Istanbul's budget larger than 80 country's

    Daily Sabah, Turkey
    Dec 27 2014

    Istanbul's budget larger than 80 country's


    As the largest city in Turkey-an important industrial, commercial and
    cultural center in the region and a shoo-in for being one of the
    biggest 10 megacities in the world-Istanbul has a budget bigger than
    the GDPs of 80 countries including Albania, Macedonia and Armenia.

    It sounds shocking, but, earlier this week, a record consolidated
    budget of 31.9 billion Turkish lira ($13.7 billion) was allocated to
    the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for next year, a figure that
    exceeds the budgets for 19 Turkish ministries.

    The huge sum begs the question of how fast the city is growing and how
    to best manage this growth in both population and transportation.

    According to economists, for the growing population of Istanbul the
    budget of 31.9 billion lira-ostensibly an astronomical sum-is really a
    reasonable amount.

    "Istanbul's population, which is officially 15 million, is higher than
    130 countries across the world. Unofficially, it has exceeded 17
    million people with unregistered inhabitants and domestic and foreign
    tourists," says Fırat Polat, general coordinator of the Economists
    Platform, a firm of Turkish consultants.

    Polat says one of the main drivers behind Istanbul's big budget is its
    enormous population: "The budget of 31.9 billion Turkish lira seems a
    sufficient amount to manage this megacity and its population."

    According to a 2014 United Nations report, the number of
    megacities-those with more than 10 million people-has increased
    three-fold globally over the past 24 years.

    Today there are 28 megacities including Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Sao
    Paulo, New York, Mexico City, Mumbai, Osaka, Delhi and Dhaka; Istanbul
    ranks 23rd on the list.

    "For example five years ago, in the beginning of 2010, Istanbul's
    population was 13 million and the consolidated budget of the
    municipality was 17.9 billion Turkish lira," says Polat.

    "The number of inhabitants has increased 20 percent in the past five
    years while the budget has boomed nearly 75 percent. The rise of the
    budget is more than the rise of population which is totally normal."

    However, the experts think that dense urban environments may provide
    certain benefits but generate hazards like transportation problems,
    traffic jams, pollution and unemployment.

    "This mass rush towards Istanbul has created many problems. With the
    latest policies, it seems impossible to prevent the population growth
    of the city," Polat says.

    The first and maybe the most pressing problem of this growing city is
    transportation, experts say.

    http://www.dailysabah.com/economy/2014/12/27/istanbuls-budget-larger-than-80-countrys-gdp

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