Turkey: Government announces construction of five industrial parks
The Turkish government plans to build five mega industrial parks with port facilities, mainly for the petrochemical industry. Each will occupy 3,000 hectares, said the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, which is backing the project. The parks will be built on the coast: two on the Black Sea, one on the Sea of Marmara between the Bosphorus strait and the Dardanelles, another in the northern Aegean area and one in the eastern Mediterranean. The Turkish petrochemical industry has a deficit of 11 billion dollars, about 20 per cent of the country’s current account debt, said Turkstat 2016. The government hopes investment in the new facilities will reduce this deficit, create thousands of jobs and attract international investors.
USA: The US Department of Transportation releases guidelines for self-driving vehicles
The United States Department of Transportation has published Federal guidelines on the manufacture and sale of self-driving vehicles. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, released the 36-page document in Mcity, an artificial town in Ann Arbor in Michigan, which was built to test autonomous vehicles. The guidelines are an updated version of those approved last September by the Obama administration. Car makers will be able to submit self-assessments to the regulatory agencies to show they meet safety requirements in these voluntary rules, eliminating the need to get authorisation to introduce certain automated driving technology. The guidelines also give the green light for more testing on American roads. Chao claims that the provisions are clearer and more comprehensive than the previous ones, and take account of continuing debate in Congress, public opinion and various stakeholders. Self-driving vehicles will help reduce accidents, improve mobility for the elderly and disabled, and revolutionise the transport sector, said the Department of Transportation.
