An Airbus A330 was submerged in Saros Bay in the northwestern Turkey’s Edirne on Friday. The giant plane, reassembled in the city after it was transported from the southern city of Antalya, will be a major attraction for diving tourism.

Local authorities said it was the world’s largest airplane ever submerged for diving tourism. It took four hours for the crews to sink the 90-ton passenger plane. The decommissioned aircraft was brought to Edirne under the sponsorship of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) and as part of a deal with a local tourism union.

It was towed to large rubber boats to the spot it was submerged. The boats were then deflated to allow the plane sink in its intact state. The aircraft was laid at a depth of 30, around half a nautical mile away from the shore.

ANKON Consulting, in consortium with Aqwadem, is implementing the Technical Assistance for TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programme which develops a coherent ecosystem along TANAP natural gas pipeline and contributes in maintaining the economic and social development and preservation of natural resources.

Communitas Awards, a worldwide prestigious award that promotes companies which benefit the community, announced that TANAP SEIP is the winner of the “2019 Communitas Award” for Social Accountability in the category of “Leadership in Community Service and Corporate Social Responsibility”.

TANAP, with its Social and Environmental Investment Programme (SEIP) implemented along the natural gas pipeline route, has been awarded with 15 companies this year, 11 in the USA and 4 in the rest of the World.

ANKON Consulting, in consortium with Aqwadem, is implementing the Technical Assistance for TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programme which develops a coherent ecosystem along TANAP natural gas pipeline and contributes in maintaining the economic and social development and preservation of natural resources.

“Adressing Labour Shortages in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic)” Project, implemented by ANKON Consulting for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) successfully completed. The final report prepared in scope of the project includes policy recommendations on how to address the issue of labour market tightness through economic inclusion.

Preliminary findings about these six countries were discussed at the “Adressing Labour Shortages in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe” Workshop organised by ANKON Consulting in November 2018 in Budapest, Hungary with the participation of EBRD Experts from London and Istanbul. Country presentations were made by the Team Leader and the Country Experts for all six countries. The workshop provided a basis to exchange on the findings for the report showing that all countries basically had the same labour market problems like brain drain, outmigration, aging population, population decrease, quality of education and skills mismatches.

ANKON Consulting, in consortium with Aqwadem, is successfully implementing the TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programme (SEIP), funded by TANAP, an investment and development program effective along TANAP route. The main objective of Social and Environmental Investment Programme is to develop a coherent ecosystem along TANAP pipeline and to contribute in maintaining the economic and social development and preservation of natural resources. Three different funding mechanisms have been developed in accordance with the Strategy Documents produced within the scope of TANAP Social and Environmental Investment Programme for the most effective use of funds along the pipeline: Direct Investment, Direct Grant and Programme Contribution.

The Installation Of The Giant Passenger Plane To Be Submerged Into Saros Gulf Has Begun

The Airbus A330 type passenger plane to be submerged into the Saros Gulf of Edirne was brought to İbrice Port where the parts of the aircraft will be reunited with 6 articulated lorry.

In accordance with the agreement signed between Edirne Saros Tourism Infrastructure Service Association (ESTAB) and Skyair Shop with the support of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP), parts of the 90-tonne aircraft that will be used as artificial reefs to increase sea tourism and fish diversity were brought from Antalya to İbrice Port.

TANAP Social Environmental Investment Programs Monitoring Expert Mutlu Erdem said, the Airbus A330, one of the world’s largest passenger aircrafts, will be immersed in the artificial reef area this summer and is expected to contribute to touristic activities and the ecosystem. Erdem stated that pieces of the aircraft will be combined in 100 days, “During this process separate parts will be merged, floated and then immersed in İbrice Port. The project aims to contribute to the formation of an artificial reef, diving tourism and prevent illegal fishing in the area. TANAP is providing 1,223 K grant support for this project. Thanks to everyone who contributed”. The Airbus A330 will be reassembled in about 100 days by an assembly team and will be sunk in the coordinate of Erikli village offshore.

“Technical Assistance for Increased Capacity for Transposition and Capacity Building on F-Gases” Project is co-financed by the Republic of Turkey and the European Union. It is run by a consortium of expert consultant companies led by GFA Consulting Group GmbH, ANKON Consulting, HEAT GmbH and Öko-Recherce. The contracting authority is the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU), and the project is intended to support the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation (MoEU) of Republic of Turkey as beneficiary institution. It has a duration of three years and will end in May 2020.

The overall objective of the Project is to reduce anthropogenic GHG emissions to contribute to the global efforts to mitigate climate change in line with the scientific evidence. More specifically, the project will contribute to an increased capacity for transposition of EU legislation and capacity building on F-Gases.

“Training of Trainers” programs were organized in Istanbul and Izmır with the participation of all stakeholders within the scope of the Project in order to increase the training capacity at the national scale, to address the gaps identified between the current and targeted F-Gases regulations and to provide information about the relevant technologies. 

http://f-gasesturkey.com/

“Support for Sustainable Beekeeping Practices and Inclusion of Beekeepers in the Muğla Region” Project, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and implemented by ANKON Consulting, aims to support Balparmak’s efforts in developing new and innovative products through improving links with beekeepers who supply honey to the company. This will be achieved by enabling access to skills and knowledge, as well as opportunities for employment, in remote areas of the Mugla region, with a focus on women and youth. The Project will provide different training opportunities based on beekeepers needs, aiming to make the best use of the existing potential and ensuring sustainability of beekeeping in Turkey.

The Balparmak Beekeeping Academy began its training sessions at the Muğla-Ula campus on December 3th. Balparmak founded the academy for the purpose of recruiting women and youth to the industry in order to promote the sustainability of the beekeeping profession, and with the intent to support increased production of honey and value-added bee products, such as royal jelly, pollen, and propolis. Faculty member Dr. Ali Ihsan Öztürk and other experts in the field from Ula Vocational School’s Apiculture Department at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, are teaching the courses, which will continue until April. So far, 40 beekeeper candidates have participated in the Beekeeping Academy’s winter semester classroom sessions, which each last three weeks. Balparmak launched the academy with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 

Hands-on classroom training sessions offered in the classroom and at the model apiary will be held in three-week semesters from April until November 2019. During the same period, the Balparmak mobile education vehicle will make visits to villages and give workshops demonstrating the production of honey and value-added bee products first-hand, while also updating beekeepers on new information. Basic beekeeping information will be available at all times through distance learning sessions offered on the Balparmak Beekeeping Academy website.

Everyone who participates in, and successfully completes, the distance education courses or the mobile training sessions will receive a Bal-Der (Platform for Healthy Living Through Bee Products Platform) certificate of participation. Balparmak will support candidates who have successfully completed the hands-on classroom trainings and the distance education course as they take their first steps into apiculture, rewarding them with two hives stocked with bees.