At the beginning of the 21st century, the countries and cities undergo a rapid change. This change makes the cities and relations between the cities stand out.

Istanbul that acted as the capital of three empires and became the meeting point of the civilizations is among the most popular cities in this new process world undergoes.

As Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, given this change in the world, we furnish the daily municipality services and we prepare Istanbul for the future in a way that would comply with its historical and natural splendor.

The target of our efforts in this field is to turn Istanbul into the world's culture, tourism, congress and trade center. Under the light of this understanding, we invested 14 billion TRY in the last three years.

This year, we determined the 2007 budget of Metropolitan Municipality including all affiliates as 14.120.000.000 TRY. We are investing this budget for the solution of our city's problems, particularly the transportation problems.

İSFALT, one of our affiliates taking role in solution of the problems of Istanbul, a world city, has made great contributions. İSFALT produces the asphalt, the basic raw material of the roads, in its state-of-the-art facilities by considering the quality a top priority. İSFALT leads the asphalt industry due to the collaborative projects with the universities and TÜBİTAK and its corporate culture open to the innovation and competition.

As Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, our target is to move forward even further the service level we upgraded in the past period together with our units and affiliates.

I kindly present my wholehearted regards with the wish of welfare and health.

Kadir TOPBAŞ,
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor