Sources inform ''Globes'' that Vice Premier Shimon Peres has filed a request with the Government Companies Authority for the establishment of a government company to run the "Peace Valley" project.
The project's core proposal is the construction of the controversial canal between the Dead Sea and Red Sea, which has been described by businessman Yitzhak Tshuva as the "future of the State of Israel." Tshuva has already expressed his support publicly for the NIS 3.5 billion project, which he views essentially as a means for producing electricity and promoting settlement in the Negev.
In its letter to the Government Companies Authority, Peres's office stated that the company would not only manage the construction of the pipeline, but also joint Israeli and Jordanian ventures in tourism, agriculture, water desalination and electricity production. Also included in the project are the construction of a joint Israeli-Jordanian airport at Aqaba, a railway line between Beit Shean and Irbid Jordan, and a joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial zone in northern Samaria.
The Government Companies Authority said in response that it would state its position on the formation of such a company following consultations with the appropriate ministries.
A key opponent of both the proposal and Peres's involvement in the venture in general is Minister of National Infrastructures Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. The project cannot go forward, he insists, without first completing the environmental survey that is being financed by the World Bank. Ben-Eliezer claims that experts have warned that the project could pose a significant risk, environmentally, to the Dead Sea and the surrounding Arava region.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 26, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007