Rumors To The Stopping Of Bet Shemesh Construction

The newest edition of the Bet Shemesh haredi newspaper Chadash, distributed today, is reporting on a rumor (and some wonder why others call it a rag...). They state explicitly that it is a rumor.

The story goes like this. the Finance Ministry has frozen the tender for upgrading Highway 38. That seems to be a fact.

Why and for how long seems to be unclear.

Someone, quoted in the article, spoke to the ministry and was given the reason that due to upcoming budget cuts the tender is for now on hold. When the final budgets will be decided, the Transportation Ministry will decide what to do with the money they are budgeted, and the Transportation Ministry will decide whether to reissue the tender and start the project of upgrading Highway 38, or if they wish to use their budgets for other projects.

Now let's get to the rumor, which makes up most of the feature article.

The rumor is that the real reason for the delay in the tender for the project is to cause a delay in upgrading the road, perhaps even a "permanent" delay. This will throw a monkey wrench into the plans for further construction in the southern hills of Bet Shemesh - including RBS C2, RBS D, RBS E and RBS F (gimmel2, daled, hei and vav). Why will it cause a delay? Because a clause in the permit for development and construction of those neighborhoods (from Gimmel 2 and on) says that tofes 4 (occupation permits) cannot be given until the highway 38 will have been upgraded to a 4 lane highway. The rumor says that Likud activists have decided to "punish" the non-Likud mayors of Bet Shemesh and Mateh Yehudah by pressuring the Finance Ministry to   stop the highway upgrade, thus making life uncomfortable and stopping construction of new neighborhoods, along with possibly halting the "haredification" of Bet Shemesh. Another aspect of the rumor is that somehow this will help these Likud activists retake these mayorships (and head of regional council) that for a long time were in Likud hands.

That's the rumor. They found nothing confirmed, no official statement, and no actual indication to this story - just a rumor.

They went to get the response of Mayor Moshe Abutbol  to these rumored plans, and he went ballistic. Abutbol has heard the rumors and believes the information to be credible. Abutbol threatened, promised really, that no matter what happens, even if the upgrade of  highway 38 gets canceled or indefinitely delayed, he will make sure that all those neighborhoods will be built anyway and they will be populated. he then goes on to invoke the dangerous status of the road, and accuses them of playing politics with life and death, as so many people have already been victims of the lousy road conditions of the highway and he wont allow it to continue. he is putting together a professional team forming a committee to deal with the issue and lobby for the renovation of the highway, and also plans to use his good relationship with the Transportation Minister to make sure the plans move ahead.

1. If true, this is horrible. Regardless of construction in the southern neighborhoods, Highway 38 must be renovated. it is dangerous and it cannot bear the amount of traffic already using the highway on a daily basis. The highway upgrade should not be held hostage, not to punish the local mayors and not to cause construction delays.

2. I dont understand his threat. If the project will be stopped, and if the government wont issue occupation or even construction permits due to the clause in the initial approval, how exactly is Moshe Abutbol going to personally make sure the construction gets done and the houses get populated? is he going to personally give the financial guarantees to the kablanim and the mortgages to the buyers? they wont be able to get any money from the bank if there are no government permits.

3. The upgrade of Highway 38 is crucial to the area. However, moving to Bet Shemesh is not a matter of life and death, if it is so dangerous, and it is, then Moshe Abutbol should himself freeze construction until the project is moved along. How can he bring more people to the area knowing how dangerous the road is? isnt he playing politics with life and death by doing so? the threat of stopping construction should be a strong threat to the government. they want, and need, the money construction brings, along with lessening the housing crisis. His threat and promise seem totally backwards to me.



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