Government owned NTA, which manages the Tel Aviv light rail project, will lay off a significant percentage of its Red Line workers, and instead engage international consulting firm Parsons Brinkerhoff (PB). According to estimates, 40% of NTA workers will be laid off. In addition PB is expected to hire Eldad Spivak as a sole contractor to manage, coordinate, and oversee NTA projects.
NTA will engage PB without a tender, and the NIS 700 million deal is expected to be signed in the coming days. Under the agreement, PB will manage the light-rail project for ten years. Instead of the NTA’s existing engineers and consultants, PB, which is a professional infrastructure services provider, plans to provide all requisite management and consulting services to NTA. PB is expected to hire Eldad Spivak as a sole external contractor, also without a tender, instead of the many external contractors currently employed by NTA.
The Red Line, which is the first line that NTA is building, is 24 kilometers long, runs from Bat Yam to Petah Tikva, and includes 11 kilometers of underground tunnels.
NTA said that the company’s current management “decided, upon taking over the running of the company, on organizational changes in the company, irrespective of the signing of any contract with one company or another. These changes include, among other things, the expected move to modest offices, suitable for the company’s new path. In addition, these changes include reducing the number of people employed by the company, and the reassignment of other workers within the company. This is with the goal of making possible normal work processes, on a par with similar companies in Israel and around the world. These and other changes are what will make it possible to realize the goal for which the company was founded - developing a mass transit system in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 10, 2014
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