The end of Tel Aviv's White Elephant: After lengthy negotiations, a final agreement was reached on the evacuation of the new Central Station.
After almost three years of discussions, committees, tours and negotiations, the central bus station in Tel Aviv will be evacuated.
According to sources in the Ministry of Housing, today (Tuesday) the Israel Land Authority reached agreements regarding the relocation of the land station under its management, which is located in the Panorama complex in the city of Tel Aviv.
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety MK Merav Michaeli said: "From my first day at the Ministry of Transportation, I, together with the professional staff and the director general of the ministry, accelerated the work on evacuating the central station in Tel Aviv. With the Israel Lands Administration and the Ministry of Housing and also with the Natsva company, and today I am proud and happy to announce that the central station in Tel Aviv will be evacuated.
It will not happen tomorrow morning, but this hazard, which is both environmental, health and transport to a considerable extent, will be removed.
"Thank you very much to all those who worked so hard to do this right thing, and in the foreseeable future we will see alternative locations, more electric buses, better service and less the polluting central station of Tel Aviv."
The new central station - inside view, Photo: Tal Cohen
The outline, which was formulated at the request of the Israel Land Authority, addresses social and transportation needs on the one hand, but also ensures, on the other hand, the promotion of optimal land planning as soon as possible.
In addition, the agreements between the municipality and the Ministry of Transportation will address the increase in the supply of housing units in the Tel Aviv area, according to the same sources.
Since 2008, residents of the south of the city have been struggling to evacuate the new Central Station.
Only recently have there been widespread demonstrations aimed at pressuring government ministries to advance the issue of evacuation.
In recent months all parties involved, including Natsva, which is in charge of the station, have tried to find a solution in favor of carrying out the evacuation, but there have been many arguments and the Minister of Housing has also come into the picture to help find a solution that satisfies all parties involved.
Now they are waiting to see if the residents of the area to which the central station is intended to move, will not file the same objections to those of those who have been requesting for years to copy the station's location, among other things on the grounds of air pollution.
The comments of the parties involved have not yet been received.
Minister of Construction and Housing Zeev Elkin said: "I welcome the joint agreement on the transfer of the Central Station. From the moment I realized that the transfer of the Central Station was stuck due to arguments between several parties, I instructed Rami "Tel Aviv. In the agreement reached, we put an end to the ongoing suffering of the residents of South Tel Aviv and the damage to their quality of life over many years. At the same time, thanks to the agreement, we will continue to promote construction solutions in Tel Aviv."
