MK Vettori case: The Registrar of Contractors issued a stop work order for the project - Voila! Real Estate

MK Vettori. Both (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The Registrar of Contractors at the Ministry of Housing, Amit Grady, this morning (Monday) issued a stop work order for the construction project at 21 Basel St. of the "Alt Gaon" company in Tel Aviv, on the suspicion that the works were performed by someone who does not hold a contractor's license.

"As part of inspections carried out on the site by the registrar of contractors at the Ministry of Construction and Housing, it was found that there is a reasonable basis to assume that work is being carried out by someone who does not have an appropriate license, and therefore the registrar issued a stop work order," Walla Real Estate was informed. The order was

issued Five days after the revelation of the affair in News 12 according to which the work on the site is being carried out by the contractor Alt Gaon without a license and therefore he used the contractor's license valid for the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Nissim Vatori (Likud), for a fee, this at the same time as his work in the Plenum. The publication shows Because on the sign outside the building, Nissim Vatori from the settlement of Aloni Hashan was mentioned - together with his license number.

A conversation held with the project developer Ronen Gaon stated that, "Nissim Vatori is the registered contractor. We do not have a contractor's license, so we have someone we pay and he gives us his license. He is a member of the Knesset but he has a contractor's license. He receives money for it , checks and takes responsibility," he was quoted as saying.

Increased enforcement activity

The serious issue in this case concerns the issue of renting the contractor's license of MK Vatori, since this is an action that is prohibited according to the Contractors Registration Law and is against the law. According to the Contractors Registration Law - a contractor may not allow others to use his license to perform construction engineering works contrary to the law. In addition, it is forbidden to receive For a contractor's license some kind of payment. In the response sent by the Ministry of Construction and Housing to Channel 2 news regarding the exposed affair, it was stated that, "The ministry takes this seriously, closes websites that violate the law and denies licenses if necessary." Against the background of the work accidents that have claimed the lives of 10 construction workers since the beginning of the

year , the Division of the Registrar of Contractors at the Ministry of Construction and Housing recently launched an increased enforcement activity against contractors operating in violation of the law. This activity included revoking licenses and imposing financial sanctions on construction companies following violations of license conditions and safety at construction sites.

As part of the enforcement activity of the Registrar of Contractors, Amit Grady, which took place at the beginning of March, two contractor licenses were revoked.

One contractor was fined NIS 40,000 and suspended on condition, and another contractor was summoned to a hearing before being denied.

Earlier, the contractors at the Ministry of Construction and Housing registered the licenses of five more contractors and suspended the licenses of two more contractors and imposed fines in accordance with the law.

The director general of the Ministry of Construction and Housing, Yehuda Morgenstern said at the time that, "The Ministry of Construction and Housing takes very seriously the activities of contractors that violate the provisions of the law.

Unfortunately, there are still contractors and entrepreneurs who do not comply with the rules and procedures designed to ensure the safety of the site and the work taking place there.

I believe that carrying out construction works according to the rules are the basis of a safe and high-quality construction site for the workers there, for the population in the area and for the future tenants who will live in the buildings.

We will continue and work by all means to make sure that every contractor in the country will work according to the procedures."

Moyal.

Put an end to the 'van contractors' (Photo: CHARISMA PIXEL)

Hundreds of work accidents on construction sites occur by unregistered contractors.

Sometimes it is a main contractor but mostly these are subcontractors hired by larger companies.

Hiring an unregistered contractor is in most cases cheaper, there is no supervision of the workers, there is no control over what they do and whether they do the work correctly, and certainly there is no supervision over safety, the quality of the construction and the professionalism of the workers.

The resulting construction defect damages are only discovered at a later date.

According to Yitzhak Moyal, Chairman of the Histadrut of the Building and Related Industries Workers' Union and President of the Fund for the Encouragement and Development of the Construction Industry in Israel, the number of inspectors and visits to the 15,000 construction sites spread throughout the country should be significantly increased, and the actual powers of closing construction sites that do not comply with safety regulations should be expanded and fines for companies that employ unregistered contractors.

"The penalties should be made more severe against those contractors who are not registered," says Moyal.

"It cannot be that in a reformed country the "van contractors" who collect untrained workers to the construction sites enter. The cheapness and disdain of those unregistered contractors for workers are the causes of work accidents. This is a destructive and dangerous phenomenon that spreads like wildfire and destroys everything we do to fight for the retention of workers And changing the image of the industry, which is the economic growth engine of the State of Israel. There are laws, there are regulations, and all that needs to be done is to activate the existing mechanisms and expand the manpower that handles them."

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