Government to invest $756,000,000 into building housing units, public spaces and educational institutions in effort to develop Jerusalem suburb • Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant says Judea and Samaria is a non-negotiable security asset.
By Yehuda Shlezinger, ISRAELK HAYOM
After a long delay fueled by diplomatic concerns, the State of Israel approved the construction of thousands of new housing units in the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, near Jerusalem, on Thursday.
The comprehensive agreement, signed by the Construction and Housing Ministry and the Maaleh Adumin Municipality, permits construction to begin on 470 units that have already been given government approval and adds an additional 20,000 units, to be built under the agreement pending government approval.
Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Gallant lauded the agreement, which he said would “lead to significant development and growth in the population of Maaleh Adumim.”
“In addition to the new housing units,” Gallant went on to say, “public and educational institutions will also be established, and will include synagogues, schools, parks, community centers and sports arenas. We must continue to establish [our] hold on the Jerusalem area, from Maaleh Adumin in the east to Givat Zeev in the west, from Atarot in the north to the area of Bethlehem and Rachel’s Tomb to Efrat and Gush Etzion.”
He noted that these places were of “historic, strategic and national importance.”
He said Judea and Samaria was not “a negotiable asset” from a security perspective and that in the future, these territories would help protect the country from both known and unknown threats from the east.
“We are working in collaboration with Mayor Benny Kashriel in Maaleh Adumim, and we will continue to act to strengthen the city,” Gallant said. “We must continue to maintain full control over Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley and bolster the settlement in these regions.”
The agreement, a Construction and Housing Ministry initiative, seeks to build housing and commercial spaces in 15 compounds across the suburb, to be marketed by 2025.
The total budget for the development project has been set at 2.8 billion shekels ($756,000,000). The municipality will finance the construction of public institutions, in accordance with the law, while the government will allocate 190 million shekels to the municipality for renovations.
@ Edgar G.:
I just remembered about Rawabi, I’d forgotten the name and you didn’t use a capital first letter which threw me off. Sorry. That’s the place that the Arabs were building some years back, their first new city…I read something about it.. some guy named Maser a proper Anti-Semite started it. But I think that’s near Ramallah and all Arab. I think the apartments were something like $70-80,000. I don’t know if it’s even finished yet. Apartments in Jordan cost about $40,000….In Egypt about $20,000…
Anyway, if Arabs , terrorists move out and feel that Jews will move in, they’ll destroy everything before they go.
@ david melech:
Well you mentioned “rawabi” and I have no idea what it means, except that it sounds vaguely like “Arab”, and then you mentioned terrorists moving out. I have no idea what any of it means. What is “rawabi’???
look at condo prices in rawabi, don’t waste time if your not in the market. i don’t think the word arab is used
@ david melech:
I don’t understand the earlier part of the post, something about the Arabs I think, …but are you saying that these houses will cost only $40,000
Cheap housing for you ‘rawabi’ buy now move when terrorists move out. At the rate Israeli gov. deals with Norway plan the exact date 12th of never. Prices start about forty gees.
Sounds like an election project……Imagine beginning now and not ready for market for another 7 years……. What really holds up construction other than political craperoo
Apart from the 101 different licencing and committee approval roadblocks…. and that is after the application has been considered for a couple of years….maybe approval by every individual MK…all 120….. .
In 6 months a few Arab workers can build a whole block of equivalent apartments.