The housing cabinet will today discuss two proposals for solving the housing problem, reducing VAT and tenders with target sale prices for the apartments to be constructed.
After hours of consultations and discussions yesterday between Prime Minister's Office director general Harel Locker, Minister of Housing and Construction Uri Ariel, and Minister of Finance Yair Lapid, it was decided that, at the same time as the discussion about Lapid's proposal to reduce VAT, the housing cabinet would vote on establishing a team, which will submit a target price plan within three weeks.
Lapid will head the team, which will include Ariel, Locker, and Israel Land Authority director Benzi Lieberman, who will prepare a plan for publishing tenders for the construction of housing under target price tenders.
According to the proposal's latest draft that will be submitted to the housing cabinet for discussion, no criteria or guidelines have been set for Ariel's target price plan. The proposal includes two important reservations about towns and lots where the target price plan will not apply: target price tenders will not be published for IDF bases that will be vacated in central Israel in the coming years, and they will not be published for lots in small communities with fewer than 500 housing units. As for the plan's target population, no clear rules have yet been set.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2014
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