Does a dispute
between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Construction and Housing hinder the strengthening of buildings against earthquakes and could result in human life?
, Has already fallen three times following opposition from the Minister of Construction and Housing, Zeev Elkin, who is the minister responsible for the issue.
Background to the dispute between the two: Prime Minister Bennett instructed the director general of his office, Yair Pines, who previously served as director general of the Ministry of Construction and Housing, to establish sub-teams in each of the relevant government ministries in order to formulate inter-ministerial teams. Will be translated into legislation.
However, the move has not yet been allocated a dedicated budget.
Minister Elkin, on the other hand, demands two decisions before the establishment of the inter-ministerial committee.
First, 51% of the tenants' consent to urban renewal proceedings in the event of a dangerous structure, a move that has been torpedoed in the past by the ombudsman.
And second, the establishment of a government fund to compensate tenants in the event that the building collapses to the value of five million shekels in areas on the periphery where there is no economic feasibility for urban renewal.
Elkin's great concern is that all responsibility will fall on him in the event of a building collapsing in the periphery, for example in Kiryat Shmona or Beit She'an, since there - unlike demand areas like Holon and other central localities - in the current incentive situation there is usually no developer to take over the building.
Beyond that, the big concern in the Ministry of Housing is that this is "another toothless committee" in the face of a harsh reality that requires immediate treatment.
According to calculations made in previous committees, the average cost of strengthening an apartment in the Syrian-African rift is NIS 160,000.
In total, this is a budget of NIS 5.8 billion, which, as stated, will not be budgeted at all.
The dispute between the Ministry of Housing and the Prime Minister's Office, as stated, has led to the failure of the establishment of such an important inter-ministerial committee three times in a row.
Data obtained by "Real Estate Today" shows that between the years 2014-2020, the Ministry of Construction and Housing strengthened 2,883 housing units in only 133 buildings, in six settlements on the fault line (Kiryat Shmona, Hatzor, Safed, Tiberias, Beit She'an and Eilat).
These are only 8% of the apartments that require reinforcement.
The total cost of the courtship was NIS 233 million.
At this rate, it will take over 80 years to complete the strengthening of residential apartments in the ten peripheral cities located in an area at increased risk of earthquake.
The loss of GDP estimated by the Ministry of Finance's chief economist as a result of an earthquake is about NIS 90 billion.
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