Evacuating IDF bases, moving the Volcani Institute – the Agricultural Research Organization from its campus in Beit Dagan, and reducing the size of the Mikveh Israel Agricultural School are at the top of the government’s housing plans for 2025. This is alongside extensive plans to increase the housing supply through so-called “mega-ceiling agreements,” and distributing aid to promote urban renewal projects. These measures form the basis of a very ambitious government housing plan for next year, as part of its general economic plan.
The central point of the plan is the government’s desire to move the bases in the Kirya, the IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv, the military training bases in Glilot on the border between Tel Aviv and Herzliya, and the bases in Tzrifin, Tel Hashomer and Haifa, to new locations to be determined by the Israel Lands Authority, the Defense Ministry and the Budget Division of the Finance Ministry.
According to the timetable set out in the proposal, the bases in Glilot will be moved to a new location by the end of 2026, and Kirya will be moved by 2030, along with the other bases.
Where will the military base be moved? It is not clear. Under the proposal, the Israel Lands Authority, the Defense Ministry and the Budget Division will reach an agreement within four months on the implementation of this decision, including the costs of removal and the location of the land to which the bases will be moved.
At the same time, the plan requires the Israel Land Authority to proceed with planning for the sites that the IDF will evacuate within 45 days of the decision, to begin planning IDF bases in the new sites chosen for them, and to give these plans priority in the planning and construction institutions.
– Reducing the area of the “Keria”, as the government believes that with modern technology there is no need for large areas as are currently used, and its area reaches about 3 thousand dunams.
The government also wants to move the Volcani Institute to a new location or locations, in order to significantly increase the supply of housing in the heart of high-demand areas. Within four months, the Israel Lands Authority, the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry’s Budget Division are scheduled to draft a detailed agreement on how to implement this decision, including costs and location.
Among the major historic agricultural sites the government plans to address are the Mikveh Israel Youth Village and Agricultural School. The government decision calls on the Finance Ministry to reach a detailed agreement with Mikveh Israel – Kol Israel HaVerim, part of the Global Israeli Alliance, regarding planning and development of housing units on part of the land currently used by the school, while the Israel Lands Authority moves forward with planning for the land that will be vacant.
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The government also seeks to instruct the Minister of Construction and Housing and the Minister of Finance to sign “massive ceiling agreements” within 90 days of the decision with local authorities that have plans to build at least 15,000 housing units that are due to be approved by planning authorities within a year and a half.
Under the agreement, local authorities will be obligated to allow the sale of lands within their jurisdiction, at a rate of no less than 5,000 housing units annually, and the local planning authority will be obligated to prepare professionally to approve building permit applications within 90 days.
The plan also attempts to address the slow progress of urban renewal projects, and includes a significant increase in government subsidies for projects that are not economically viable, and to strengthen buildings against earthquakes. Owners of apartments in such buildings will be required to repay the government subsidies, with interest and indexation, if they sell their apartments.
But what are the chances of implementing these plans? It is hard to believe that they are high. Take, for example, the removal of the Kirya bases: the target date is 2030, a date that will not be achieved, even if the IDF and the Defense Ministry quickly reach an agreement with the Israel Lands Authority and the Finance Ministry regarding alternative sites, which is in itself doubtful. Planning, construction and transfer are extremely long, expensive and complex processes, not to mention slow, especially in the midst of war.
The move of the Volcani Institute was an idea proposed by former Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, and was met with opposition within his ministry as well as from the Rishon LeZion municipality, within whose jurisdiction the institute is located.
Reducing the size of Mikveh Israel is another move that will arouse public opposition, as the school is considered the green lung of the greater Tel Aviv area, not to mention the school’s historical status.
As for the “mega-roof agreements,” it must be said that very few local authorities currently meet the conditions for the available plans to build 15,000 housing units. The local authorities that meet this condition are probably the ones that are doing well in construction—places like Ashkelon, Ashdod, Dimona, Rishon LeZion, and Kiryat Ata, which have existing roof agreements but have not yet built many housing units under them.
This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on September 22, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
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