The Ministry of Finance Budgets Division is considering halting the Tel Aviv light rail project and planning it afresh after work on the Red Line is finished. This would mean halting the future lines of the Tel Aviv area light rail network, because of likely budget overruns. In the past, the Ministry of Finance has expressed opposition to NTA building the future light rail lines.
Work on the first light rail line, the Red Line, began in early August, and is expected to take six years. At the same time, as reported by "Globes", NTA has started work on the second line, the Green Line. Two months ago, the plan for the central part of the Green Line was approved for deposit in the National Infrastructure Committee, subject to certain conditions. This is the longest of the eight lines that NTA plans, 39 kilometers, of which 4.5 kilometers will be underground.
Ministry of Finance sources claim, however, that the demand projection for public transport in general and the light rail in particular is higher than had been forecast, and that changes should therefore be made to the future lines. "The intention is not to cancel the lines, but to adapt them to a reality that has changed. The light rail project was planned decades ago, and so is not appropriate to today's demands," a Ministry of Finance source said. "In any case, it will take NTA six years to complete the Red Line, and so there is plenty of time to plan the other lines anew. This has to be done right first time, or not at all," he added
A source at the Ministry of Transport criticized the Ministry of Finance's decision, saying, "There is no logic in rethinking the plan, even if it is not perfect. Better that there should be a plan than nothing at all."
The source added that it made no sense to start building the Red Line if the future of the other lines was unclear. "A single line will do more harm than good, and will be no use to anyone. A mass transit system has to be just that, a system, a network of lines," he said. He also attacked the Ministry of Finance for meddling. "The Finance Ministry has a tendency to stop for a rethink after things have already got underway. Would it have been hard for them to do this a year ago, or two, five or ten years ago?"
NTA had no comment on the report.
The Ministry of Finance denies the accusations, and says that what is on the agenda is a substantial expansion of the existing project. "The Ministry of Finance stands behind the Tel Aviv area light rail project. In the past year, a professional exercise was carried out jointly by Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, and the Planning Administration, in order to examine what additions were required to the system so that it will provide a high standard of service to passengers in the Tel Aviv area. Various alternatives have been examined, including substantial expansion of the existing plan. The Ministry of Finance ascribes great importance to high quality public transport being available to all residents."
Minster of Transport Yisrael Katz said, "The light rail project in Tel Aviv will be carried out as planned. No-one can stop it. The light rail system situated in the Tel Aviv area will be operational in 2021 as planned, and the rest of the lines planned for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area will be built exactly in accordance with the timetable set down."
Meanwhile, Knesset Public Transport Sub-Committee chairman MK Dov Khenin has announced that he will convene an urgent session on the matter immediately the Jewish holiday season is over. "Instead of wasting billions of public money and many years of work that will bring the Tel Aviv area to a halt and hurt people and businesses, instead of creating more transport chaos and another round of bickering between those responsible, what is needed now is a decision to deploy a network of rapid buses in metropolitan Tel Aviv," Khenin said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 1, 2015
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