2nd PROJECT STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO PREPARE FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR MERİÇ-ERGENE RIVER BASIN WAS HELD

The 2nd Project Steering Committee Meeting of the "Technical Assistance to Prepare Flood Risk Management Plan for Meriç-Ergene River Basin Project", financed by the European Union and Türkiye under the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance IPA-2, was held under the chairmanship of Ms. Afire SEVER, Director General of Water Management, on May 2, 2023 at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Beştepe Campus Multi-Purpose Meeting Hall with the participation of public institutions and organizations, municipalities and contractor company officials.

The meeting was attended by a total of 45 participant including Ms. Afire SEVER, Director General of Water Management, European Union Delegation to Türkiye, representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Directorate of Strategy and Budget, Directorate for EU Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Directorate General for EU and Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Directorate General for Information Technologies, Kırklareli Governorship Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Health Directorate General for Public Health, Tekirdağ Governorship Provincial Directorate of Disaster and Emergency Situation, Edirne Governorship Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Kırklareli Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Turkish Water Institute, General Directorate of Highways, Istanbul Regional Directorate of İller Bankası Anonim Şirketi, Veliköy Organized Industrial Zone, Lüleburgaz Municipality, İpsala Municipality, General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums and contractor company officials.




In the opening speech made by Ms. Afire SEVER, Director General of Water Management, it was emphasized that water management is very important to ensure water supply, access to drinking water, food supply security, energy and industrial sustainability due to climate change or human-induced impacts in our country.

In the continuation of her speech, Ms. Afire SEVER stated that flood events, which have increased due to climate change, have recently become more noticeable and have reached the size of a disaster due to negative activities such as interventions in stream beds, zoning of stream beds, positioning of industrial zones and social reinforcement areas close to the stream bed.
 
Ms. Afire SEVER stated that there is a lot of legislation on flooding and this situation creates a conflict of authority between institutions, and it was stated that the draft Flood Law prepared by examining the current legislation as the General Directorate is aimed to be enacted by the Veteran Parliament in the current year. It was stated that flood control investments are large investments and the establishment of a flood fund due to the need for financing is also included in the draft law. Similarly, it was stated that the work on the Water Law has reached to a conclusion, and it is expected to be enacted.

In the continuation of her speech, Ms. Afire SEVER stated that the Meriç Ergene Basin is a border-forming and transboundary basin and that our country is a downstream country and is highly affected by floods. It was emphasized that the Flood Management Plan to be prepared in the basin within the scope of the project is a very valuable work in terms of coordinating and managing the floods experienced. It was stated that the measures determined to reduce the flood risk within the scope of the prepared flood management plan should be taken into consideration as a priority in the investment programs by the responsible institutions. 

Ms. Afire SEVER ended her speech with the wish that the meeting and the project work would be successful.

Following the opening speech of Ms. Afire SEVER, the meeting continued with a technical presentation by Dr. Deniz İTİBAR, Project Team Leader, on the project's objective, purpose, expected outputs and project activities. Within the scope of his presentation, Mr. İtibar covered the activities carried out in the second six-month period of the project and the bottlenecks encountered in this process. He mentioned the results of the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment studies carried out under Activity Set 1 and mentioned that Hydrology and Surveying studies are ongoing under Activity Set 2. Mr. İtibar shared with the participants the activities carried out within the scope of Activity Set 5 Revision of the Existing Flood Warning System as Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System and Expansion of its Scope to Basin Scale, which continues simultaneously with these activities, and concluded his presentation by giving information about the activities planned for the next six months. 


The 2nd Project Steering Committee Meeting of the Technical Assistance to Prepare Flood Risk Management Plan for Meriç-Ergene River Basin was completed following the mutual exchange of views with the participants.