Lütfi Akça, head of the ministry's Environmental Management Directorate, wrote a letter to the Transportation Ministry requesting ministry officials prepare noise sources lists for districts with more than 250,000 inhabitants by June 30, 2011, and produce noise maps by June 30, 2013. Akça also requested that action plans, which are to be designed in accordance with the maps, be ready by July 18, 2014. The Environmental Management Directorate has prepared draft noise sources lists for İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Antalya, all of which have airports with air traffic of more than 50,000 flights per year. According to the letter, separate noise maps will be produced for 41 districts throughout Turkey. Of these maps, 28 are to be produced for districts in İstanbul, six for Ankara and seven for İzmir.
The studies will be conducted on the basis of the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise Directive. Noise maps of residential areas within the boundaries of metropolitan municipalities will be produced by the metropolitan municipalities in cooperation with the provincial municipalities. The noise maps of the residential areas located outside the municipalities' boundaries and adjacent areas will be produced by the Transportation Ministry.
