The opening of the Famagusta Sewerage Network Improvement Works, prepared by the European Commission to improve the existing sewerage network in Famagusta, was held on Thursday, July 1st, with a ceremony held at pump station number 3 in the Ekor circle. For the repair of the Sewerage Network, which was started to be built in Famagusta in 2009 and does not work properly due to problems in the system, 70 percent of the pipes in the network need to be renewed, while 30 percent will be repaired. Within the scope of the project, line connections to houses will be renewed and pump stations will be repaired and improved. The project, which is expected to last approximately two years, is carried out by Çeltikçioğlu İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret LTD. It will be implemented by the consortium formed by Şti, Arıkan İnşaat Taahhüt Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş. and MBF Yapı İnşaat Ticaret A.Ş., at a cost of 20 million 500 thousand 842 Euros.

In his speech, Famagusta Mayor İsmail Arter stated that the Famagusta Sewerage System started to be built in 2009 with EU financing, but could not be completed due to various problems that followed, and said, “The sewage system, which was taken over by our Municipality after the construction works stopped in 2013, has been experiencing great problems, odors and odors to date.” “There were problems, blockages and overflows, but the system was operated and maintained with these problems.” said.

 

“The EU’s promise to the people of Famagusta was that Famagusta would have a contemporary and modern wastewater collection system.” Mayor İsmail Arter stated that, in line with this goal, they have been working together as the Municipality and the European Commission since the day he took office and that they have completed all technical and administrative procedures regarding the repair project, and that he is very happy to announce to the people of Famagusta that the repair works will start within a few months as a result of the preparations to be made by the contractor company. did.

“I hope that the problems experienced in the past will not be repeated in this project and our city will have a modern wastewater collection system as a result of the repair project.” Mayor İsmail Arter stated that the municipality’s technical team continues to work on projects regarding the expansion of the wastewater treatment system and the use of purified water in agriculture, and that their goal is to eliminate the wastewater problem in Famagusta and enable the use of purified water in agriculture. “Hopefully, we will achieve this goal with the support of the European Union.” President İsmail Arter thanked the European Commission for its support to the people of Famagusta.

Kjartan Björnsson, Deputy Director of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Reform and Head of the Cyprus Solution Support Unit, said in his speech that the construction of the sewer system was interrupted by many problems and dragged on for a long time, and that he deeply regretted that the city of Famagusta did not have a fully operational sewer network for years. Expressing, “I do not want to go into details of what went wrong today or to blame anyone. Instead, the main point I should emphasize is that, despite all the difficulties, the European Commission remained committed to the successful completion of the project and to ensuring that the residents of Famagusta had a modern and functional sewerage system.” said.

Björnsson stated that the project that will overhaul the existing sewage network and repair various defects that prevent the network from working efficiently has started. Approximately 70% of the pipes in the network will be dismantled and replaced with new ones, the remaining 30% will be repaired, line connections to the houses will be renewed, and pump stations will be improved. He said that at the end of this project, which is expected to last approximately two years, Famagusta will have a functional sewage system that fully meets European standards.

Kjartan Björnsson stated that they will work closely with Çeltikçioğlu Construction Director Adnan Çeltikçioğlu and Murat Dağ, who lead the consortium, and Gürhan Garabli and Mehmet Özbilen, representing the audit firm GITEC, and also President İsmail Arter and his colleagues Atila Aypar and Doğuç Veysioğlu. He said that he was pleased to see him again and that his colleagues Alain Joaris, Virve Vimpari and Laura Carpino from the EU Program Support Office in Nicosia would follow the work closely.

Adnan Çeltikçioğlu, Director of Çeltikçioğlu Construction Industry and Trade Company, stated that he was proud to take part as a contractor in this extremely important project and stated that he is the owner of the leading company of the partnership “Çeltikçioğlu, MBF and Arıkan”, which consists of three international construction companies, and has significant experience in the field of infrastructure in many countries. He said they had it. Çeltikçioğlu stated that they have successfully completed many extremely important and challenging infrastructure projects, especially the sewer systems of big cities and touristic regions that require deep excavation, excavation protection systems are applied, and some of them are carried out under heavy traffic load, and added that their companies have completed sewage networks, water networks, transportation systems, etc. He said that he has construction experience in many areas such as lines, pump stations, treatment facilities, underwater pipelines, sea discharge projects.

Çeltikçioğlu company, which is the leader of the partnership, said that it has carried out pipe laying work with a total length of more than 3.5 million meters on its own so far, and that they are about to complete the European Commission’s “New North Nicosia Main Conveyors Sewerage Line” Project.

Çeltikçioğlu stated that 31 km of sewer line pipes, 14 km of sewer house connection pipes and 612 control chimneys will be renewed, the work will be carried out without stopping the operation of the existing sewage system, and that they will carry out repairs at 29 points in the old sewer network, and 7 old pump stations will be rehabilitated. He stated that the contract period is 810 days and there is an additional 365-day defect liability period. Çeltikçioğlu said that the first 3 months were devoted to studies on the examination of the existing sewage system and their aim was to complete the works before the period specified in the contract.

Explaining that they will be extremely careful about the environment and human health, Çeltikçioğlu said that the works will be completed on time and to the satisfaction of the Engineer, Employer and Famagusta Municipality, and thanked the European Commission, especially the General Directorate of Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM).

Çeltikçioğlu asked Mayor İsmail Arter to be sure that the sewage system of the city of Famagusta will become fully functional soon and that the city’s residents will no longer suffer from this issue after the renovation work is completed, and asked for some patience from the city’s residents, adding that the teams will be extremely careful and sensitive on the streets. He wanted it to be known that they would disturb the public at the minimum level in daily life.