In the smart district of Kepez-Santral in Antalya, Turkey, some 606 apartments have been completed and handed over to 460 owners. The district is being revamped as part of Kepez-Santral Urban Transformation Project, set up by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality with support from the EU-funded MAtchUP project. The transformation project is one of the largest such projects in the country.
Infrastructure completed by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality
As part of the project, the municipality has invested 35 million Turkish lira in infrastructure works, including 8 km of sewage works and 11 km of rainwater drainage system. New roads to the allotment have now been completed.
Mr Böcek congratulated the owners who had been waiting for years for their homes. “When we took office, the Urban Transformation Project had been stopped,” he said. “It would have led to 5,073 apartments being built for 3 265 owners. Providing housing benefits to 2 800 owners was problematic. The delay in the project was met with dismay and concern and we wanted to turn the situation around for our citizens. We first identified solutions to the accrued rents owed to them and then we restarted the project studies.”During the ceremony, Mr Böcek stated, “460 of the 606 apartments in 9 blocks belong to the owners. It gives us great pleasure to be able to hand over the keys of the apartments to their owners. In the following months, we will give the apartments in other parcels to their owners stage by stage. We are all in this together, working as one, building on all of our combined strengths.
Apartments handed over
Cem Oğuz, chairman of the municipality’s construction agency ANTEPE, provided some facts and figures about the urban transformation,
“Since 2001, the Kepez-Santral has been municipal property. The first studies for the project started with the setting up of the Urban Transformation Contact Office between 2009-2014. Since 2016, 3 265 owners have signed up to the project and 4 931 properties have been demolished. In March 2018, 3 265 owners received their apartments. A year later, certificates of owership were issued.” Mr Oğuz went on to say that in some other parcels would be handed over in the coming months and that the MatchUP project works would continue.
