The Tel Aviv-Yafo Administrative Court heard today (Tuesday) a petition filed by the Association of Contractors against three cities that since the outbreak of the war have refused to allow the opening of construction sites in their territory, despite the fact that the Home Front Command allows it.
Judge Kobi Vardi approved the opening of construction sites in the cities of Bat Yam, Givatayim and Ramat Gan, in accordance with the outline reached by the parties at the court's request.
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According to the main agreements, each site will be required to comply with Home Front Command guidelines for construction sites, including a contractor's declaration regarding the matter. At the entrance to each site, an armed security guard will be stationed at the contractor's expense, at the request of the municipality. In addition, the construction sites will employ workers with blue ID cards, or foreign workers with work visas. Palestinians will not be employed even if the state has allowed them to work.
It was also agreed that workers would not be allowed to sleep at the site and workers would not be allowed to travel to and from the construction sites during dispersal hours to schools (between 07:15 and 08:30). In addition, you will not allow hermetic blocking of streets. Blocking travel lanes will be carried out in coordination and approval of the Israel Police and construction inspection teams.
Construction sites (illustration), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Partners in the petition are the Fund for the Encouragement and Development of the Construction Industry in Israel, Danya Cebus, Electra Construction and Almond Tree Engineering. In the petition, filed through attorneys Eldad Koresh and Eden Bakshi of Fisher Law Firm (FBC), representatives of the construction and infrastructure industry said that its goal is to enable contractors to operate the construction sites as instructed by the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of the Interior, in accordance with Home Front Command directives, in order to prevent irreversible damage on an astronomical daily scale to contractors. In their estimation, the damage caused by stopping construction could lead to the collapse of thousands of companies that employ tens of thousands of Israelis. Hundreds of thousands of customers will be harmed by it, up to collateral damage to the economy due to the risk to the financial system.
Raul Serogo, President of the Association of Contractors and Builders of the Land: "Our industry received NIS 500 billion in credit from the financial system. This is the same amount as the annual budget of the Israeli government. Every day, contractors spend NIS 160 million, so closing construction sites is a sure recipe for bankruptcy for many in the industry. In the future, the state will have to create a comprehensive outline of compensation for the many businesses that were completely closed and for those that were forced to operate on a very limited scale."
"Closing construction sites is a sure recipe for bankruptcy for many in the industry." President of the Association of Contractors and Builders of the Land Raul Serugu, Photo: Ancho-Ghosh-Gini
The industry is currently working without about 90,<> Palestinians, and it will take a long time for foreign workers to come here to replace them, even though their arrival has been approved by the government.
"Our industry is a vital sector on which the economy and the residents of Israel depend. Now that we are at war, it is clear that the industry will need much more power and resources than usual to fulfill the task of restoring the destruction of buildings and infrastructure across the country while continuing construction that has been halted or partially carried out. The minimum that the state needs to do is to make sure that those who can work will work, and later to ensure compensation that will prevent an economic catastrophe for the entire economy," Serugu said.
The construction sites will employ workers with blue ID cards, or foreign workers with work visas, Photo: Envato Elements
Following the court's decision to resume construction work, the Manufacturers Association said, "Fortunately, the court understood that the State of Israel has the responsibility to maintain economic activity as much as possible, in order to maintain the strength of the economy and serve as a strong rear to the front."
"Indeed, the compromise we reached jointly with the local authorities, to allow the return of construction work in the cities, enables the economy to maintain economic strength. Construction work and the Israeli construction industry are interconnected, and restoring the activity of construction sites to normal also means restoring the activity of construction industries, after the severe damage they suffered since the beginning of the war. And so, in this decision, the court preserved and protected the construction industry, Israeli industry and thousands of jobs for Israelis who want and want to return to work."
Dr. Ron Tomer, President of the Manufacturers Association, Photo: Yossi Aloni
The Ramat Gan Municipality wished to congratulate Judge Vardi, who was attentive and to the point and brought about an optimal solution acceptable to the parties. Carmel Shama Hacohen, Mayor of Ramat Gan: "The court understood that the contractors' dry claims of lack of authority by the mayors are detached from the reality created since Black Sabbath. We fought for our residents, but our achievement will serve all the cities that have not withstood the pressure of contractors and have already opened the sites under much less safe conditions."
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