358
Itongadol.- To solve Israel\’s housing crisis, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to release land to developers for the construction of up to 100,000 housing units in the center of the country. The units will be built on land that the IDF is vacating as it moves many of its operations in the Tel Aviv area to the Negev. Netanyahu discussed the plan at the Sunday cabinet meeting.
During the meeting, the government authorized marketing of parcels of land for bases that are already slated to be moved down south. That land will enable the construction of some 60,000 homes in the next few years, Netanyahu said.
Nearly NIS 20 billion will be spent over the next 30 years – most of it over the next decade – to move the bases, which are located in the centers of many cities in the Tel Aviv areas. When the bases were first established, they were often on the periphery of the city or out of town, but over the years, cities expanded to include the areas around the bases. As a result, the land on which many of the bases sit is extremely valuable.
“We are making two historic decisions today,” Netanyahu said before the meeting. “We are vacating large bases in the center of the country, allowing the construction of some 60,000 homes. In addition, we will soon move the operations of Israel Military Industries – located between Ramat Hasharon and Kfar Sava – and that will give us land for the construction of 40,000 more homes.
“This is an important change and the proper way to deal with the high price of homes – by increasing supply,” said Netanyahu. “We will also continue to develop peripheral areas and make living in them attractive as well.”