Miri Regev in the cemetery in Holon (according to Article 27A of the Copyright Law)
Minister of Transportation Miri Regev did not even manage to look directly into the eyes of the heads of "NATA", the government company for urban transportation routes, when she toured the company today (Tuesday) and traveled on the Red Line from the Arlozorov station in Tel Aviv to the depot in Petah Tikva, where the trains are stored, and where the line's operating hub is located The first of the light rail in the center of the country.
Only after its spokesman released the prepared announcement to the media about the transfer of the metro project from NTA to Netivy Israel, and after praising the progress on the line, did Regev inform NTA Chairman Maya Likwernik and the company's CEO Haim Glick on the move. It should be noted that the transfer of the project does not depend only on Minister Regev's decision, and it also requires a government decision on the matter.
In the announcement, Regev noted that 2018 exceeded the designated budget by 3 billion shekels, and exceeded the schedule by more than a year and a half. Regev, in her previous term as Minister of Transportation, was the one who brought about the approval of an additional budget of 1.1 billion shekels for the NTA, and allowed the opening to be postponed from October 2021 to November 2022. At the moment, no additional deviations have been announced in the project budget, although the additional costs of postponing the start-up for the months of May-June this year have not yet been finalized.
Simulations of the metro (photo: official website, NTA)
NTA did not meet the project's schedule and budget. But the conduct surrounding the metro law, which was already approved for second and third reading in the previous Knesset, and did not pass due to Likud's refusal to support it, shows that the new project's schedule does not really bother Regev's party. The law itself contains
lessons Many of the delays in the works on the red line, by local authorities and other government bodies, which shows that not all the delay in the completion of the red line, and the green and purple that will follow it, is the fault of NATA.
But the NTA has another problem. Its chairwoman, attorney Maya Likvarnik, was appointed by Merav Michaeli.
Compared to NATI chairman, Likud activist and close associate of Regev Yigal Amadi, appointed by her in her previous term as Minister of Transportation.
In contrast to Israel Railways, where Regev is trying to oust CEO Micha Meixner who fights political appointments, Banti was chosen as a legal adviser to the company by the nephew of the media person close to Likud Yaakov Berdogo.
Whoever controls the metro project will control hundreds of additional appointments, and a budget that, according to estimates, will exceed the NIS 200 billion threshold.
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Minister of Transportation Miri Regev (Photo: Reuven Castro)
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In December 2010, Israel Katz was the first to transfer the control of the Red Line project from the selected private concessionaire to a government company in December 2010.
It ended in a severe report by the State Comptroller, in the replacement of the NTA management, and in a delay of more than six years in the project, which in 2010 was promised to start operating in 2017.
Another project that Regev is responsible for, the fourth track in Ayalon, already paid a heavy price in terms of the schedule in Regev's previous term, after Israel Railways transferred it to NATI, which it promoted already then. Only the organization and redistribution of work between NATI and the railway led to its departure, towards Completion more than two years late, in 2028.
NTA made many mistakes along the way, but precisely now, when it has already gained experience in tunneling works, subway technology and working with the foreign concessionaires, transferring the project to NTA which lacks this experience is a potential for further delay due to the necessary learning curve.
It is already about opening the project which should provide a real alternative to traffic jams that will not end in Gush Dan only partially in 2034 and fully in 2037.
The light rail lines should provide some relief, but restructuring the project will only bring the metro completion schedule closer to the end of the next decade, guaranteeing us another decade and a half of traffic jams.
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