Netanya will grow by 3,000 housing units in the next few years, after construction has begun of a new neighborhood in the city's western part, ten years after the plan was approved.
The plan will develop a 218-acre parcel, which is held mainly by the Netanya municipality and private investors, though the state and the Jewish National Fund also own parts of the plot.The new neighborhood will be bounded by Ben Zvi Street to the east, Ben Gurion Street and the hotel area to the west, Hayahaloman Avrahamus St. to the north, and Levi Eshkol Street to the south.
The approved plan calls for building 3,000 housing units, 200,000-sq.m. of commercial space, and public buildings. At its center, the new neighborhood will have a park.
The Netanya municipality published this week the first tender for infrastructure development in the neighborhood, valued at NIS 33 million. The project will include building three main roadways and the construction of primary underground systems; the work will take an estimated 20 months to complete.
The plan was first approved in 2003 but was not implemented because of the difficulty of finding funding for the development of the property. After Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar became personally involved in the project, the Ministry of Finance and the Israel Land Authority last year approved NIS 50 million for groundwork and development. The funding will be repaid with the sale of the land.
"For many residents and individual owners of smaller plots in the plan, this is a dream that is being fulfilled after decades of expectation, and I am glad to have been allowed to tell them the plan was now on its way," said Feirberg-Ikar.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 2, 2015
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