What will Jerusalem look like in 2050? According to plans submitted to a special hearing for Jerusalem District Planning and Construction, there will be a metro (underground railway) operating in the city, 220,000 new homes will be built and the population of the metropolitan area will double to 5 million.
The committee session was held to present and discuss two interrelated issues: first, plans to establish a subway in Jerusalem; Secondly, the development plans needed for the city to adapt to the new era of transportation where the population is expected to almost double by 2050 within the same city limits.
“Plans approved within 15 years.”
As Globes reported in July, a tender has been issued to conduct an economic and engineering feasibility study for the construction of the Jerusalem Metro, with the project costing tens of billions of shekels. Work will begin between 2040 and 2050. At the committee session, one of the leaders of the planning team, architect Ari Cohen, presented his own forecast that seemed more optimistic: “Within 15 years, there will be approved plans,” he claimed. “This system will come into being in the 2040s, and will serve Jerusalem as of the mid-2040s.”
During the hearing, four potential options for the metro were presented. The most expensive option, at a cost of 70 billion shekels, includes three lines. But currently, decision-makers prefer to build a cheaper option of only two lines in the first stage, and study adding a third line later. The Jerusalem Municipality and the Director General of the Construction Committee, Rafi Elimelech, supported the option of two lines that meet at one point and include 29 stations over a distance of 28 kilometers. Estimates presented indicate that this option would cost just over NIS 50 billion.
Elimelech pointed out that the construction of the Jerusalem Metro will use the knowledge and experience gained in planning the Tel Aviv Metro. He said: “The failures that we found in the planning process in the center area will not be repeated here. We can do planning in Jerusalem faster than we did in the center.”
The strategic plan will be reviewed
As part of the preparations for the integration of the Jerusalem Metro, city development plans were also presented on the assumption that the city will continue to grow as more transportation solutions are created. The Jerusalem Strategic Plan, which has not been revised since 2014, will be updated. It is estimated that the city’s population will increase by about 800,000 people by 2050, reaching about 1.8 million people.
This growth will make Jerusalem more densely populated. The city currently has 7,662 people per square kilometre, and according to growth projections for the coming years, this density will almost double to 14,220 people per square kilometre. It is estimated that the city will need to add 220,000 housing units – the vast majority through urban renewal: 130,000 units for the general Jewish population, 50,000 units for the Arab population and 40,000 units for the Haredi population. According to estimates, the Jerusalem urban area, which includes Beit Shemesh, Maale Adumim, Givat Zeev and others, is also expected to almost double by 2050: today about 2.7 million people live in the urban area, and by 2050 the population is expected to reach 4.8 million .
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on November 4, 2024.
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