The first line of the Jerusalem Light Railway will begin operating in April 2010 - 18 months behind schedule. Officials from the Ministry of Finance and Jerusalem municipality met today to resolve their differences. The Ministry of Finance has sent a working paper to the municipality concerning, among other things, the timetable for further work on the light rail and work permits, which the municipality has delayed. The municipality is due to review the paper and respond to it, but there has been no significant progress on this matter.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski believes that work on the light rail should go forward aggressively one section after another, instead of the current method in which streets are closed while work goes ahead too slowly, in his opinion. The municipality has not yet issued a work permit for the Jaffa Road section of the line or for sections where there is no serious and detailed work plan. The municipality says that the work permits will be issued when serious, detailed plans with timetables are submitted.
Jerusalem municipality director general Yair Maayan said that the parties had agreed to work hard to move forward on the timetable in order to get the railway moving. The municipality has already demanded that the light rail franchisee, City Pass comply with the timetable.
The new timetable has already caused disputes between the Jerusalem municipality and the Ministry of Finance. To date, only two kilometers of track on the fourteen-kilometer route have been laid. The municipality has called on the government to appoint an independent expert to review the reasonableness of the timetable proposed in the pending contract between the government and City Pass. The municipality also wants City Pass to provide large guarantees in the event that there is a further delay in the timetable.
The Knesset State Control Committee recently decided to hold a discussion on the problems and delays in the Jerusalem light rail project. The committee will ask State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss to examine the problems in the project.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 12, 2007
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