Tel Aviv deputy mayor Doron Sapir: So long as there is no thorough clean-up plan, there is no point in recommending the urban building plan.
The Tel Aviv Local Planning and Building Commission has recommended to the Tel Aviv Regional Planning and Building Commission not to go ahead with a proposed mixed-use project for the 55-dunam (13.75-acre) Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) Magen lot because the land and groundwater are severely contaminated. The lot is located at the intersection of Hashalom Road and Aliyat Hanoar Street on the border of Tel Aviv and Givatayim.
The IMI Magen factory that previously occupied the site manufactured light arms until 1996. The land is owned by the Israel Land Administration (ILA). An urban building plan (UBP) from 1999 approved the site for offices, residential high-rises, and public buildings with an aggregate space of 87,000 square meters. 848 apartments were slated to be building in 43-storey high-rises. The contamination was discovered after IMI vacated the premises.
Tel Aviv deputy mayor Doron Sapir said that the local planning commission decided against the project because the ground was still contaminated even after the removal of 12,000 tons of soil to Ramat Hovav in the Negev. He added that no solution had been found to the problem of heavy metals in the soil and groundwater. "There is still no significant plan for dealing with the contamination. We decided that so long as there was no thorough clean-up plan, there was no point in recommending the UBP to the regional planning commission."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 13, 2008
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