Mustafa Karli, President of Istanbul Food Wholesalers and Merchants Association, said, “There are more than a thousand shops (in Rami), but only 200-300 shops have infrastructure. Other shops have no infrastructure. Our new bazaar will be a site with all social facilities.”
Rami Food Wholesalers Bazaar tradesmen, who have been operating next to the Rami Barracks for 36 years, are eagerly waiting to move to the Istanbul Food Wholesalers Bazaar built in the Sahintepe District in Basaksehir.
The shopkeepers who moved from Eminonu Unkapani to Rami in 1985 still continue their business life in shops of 21 and 42 square meters. With the initiative of the Istanbul Food Wholesalers and Merchants Association (IGTOD), the land in Basaksehir Kayabasi Bati Resneli Region was purchased a while ago.
On this land, the construction of the modern bazaar, whose tender was completed in January 2017, was initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Housing Development Administration (TOKI) in November of the same year. The keys of the shops in the bazaar, which was completed in about 3.5 years, started to be delivered to the tradesmen.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), IGTOD President Mustafa Karli said that the new bazaar of 322 thousand square meters has a covered street in 70 thousand square meters.
Karli stated that in the bazaar, a modern campus consisting of 1138 independent shops, 5 thousand 770 square meters public warehouse, 2 restaurants of 480 square meters, 8 bank blocks, a car park for approximately 2 thousand 600 vehicles, a mosque with a capacity of 1200 people, a commercial block, medical center, kiosks, service shops and administrative building was built.
Expressing that the existing wholesalers in Rami are doing business under difficult conditions, Karli said, “We came to Rami for two years temporarily from Eminonu Unkapani in 1985. There are more than a thousand shops, but only 200-300 shops have infrastructure. Other shops have no infrastructure. Our new bazaar will be a site with all social facilities.”
“We will start the relocation process after the settlement”
Expressing that the construction of the new bazaar is finished, Karli said that the deliveries of the shops will continue until April 3.
Karli, stating that they expect the bazaar to be inhabited in April, “We will start the relocation process after the settlement. I think we will move towards the end of the seventh month.”
Stating that Europe’s most luxurious and largest covered bazaar was built, Karli gave the following information:
“We have 4 main entrance gates in the bazaar. The whole site is equipped with 198 security cameras. We also have a warehouse of 5 thousand 770 square meters. We will probably build this place as cold storage. There will be a bank block in the bazaar. We built a special place for 8 banks. There will be no banks between the shops in the bazaar. There are service shops of different sizes in the open area at the beginning of the block, there will be buffet-style shops there.”
Karli stated that the roads in Rami were 12 meters wide, and in the new state it increased to 27 meters, saying, “In this bazaar, if two trucks download goods, the third truck can pass through the road.”
Explaining that shop owners can open offices in the trade block in the twenty-street bazaar, Karli added that they reserved one of the blocks to make it a medical center.
“We will find the opportunity to trade in more modern and better conditions”
Tradesman Mehmet Yildiz said that he has been in Rami Food Wholesalers Bazaar for 36 years.
Stating that there are some differences between the current state and the ones to be moved, Yildiz said, “We did not have water here, we did not have sewage, we had traffic problems. I feel that we will be comfortable because the roads where we will move are very wide and the shops are covered.”
Halit Cosan, who has a store in the bazaar, stated that they stayed here for a long time as Eminonu and Unkapani tradesmen.
Stating that they will move to the new bazaar in Basaksehir soon, Cosan said, “We will find the opportunity to trade in more modern and better conditions. This place was built temporarily for 2 years, so it was not built regularly and in a planned way. Our new places have been made more organized, planned, wider and covered. Maybe it has become a unique bazaar in the world.”
Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz