Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today ordered outgoing Prime Minister's Office director general Eyal Gabai and Ministry of Finance Budget Director Udi Nissan to formulate within three weeks a final plan for financing the salt harvesting of pool 5 in the southern basin of the Dead Sea, before they complete their terms in office.
During a tour of the Dead Sea today, Netanyahu said, "I want a proposal for the harvesting within 21 days, in agreement with Dead Sea Works. If no agreement is forthcoming, all options, including legal options, will be on the table as far as we're concerned. Within a month from today, we will have a solution for which everyone has been waiting for years, and we'll get underway. We need a solution, because this is a magical place."
Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan told "Globes" that the legal options mentioned by Netanyahu included reopening Israel Chemicals Ltd's (TASE: ICL) mining franchise, which is due to expire in 2030, charging the cost of the salt harvesting on the company through legislation, and other measures.
The Ein Bokek area along the southern basin of the Dead Sea, where hotels are located, is in danger of flooding due to a rise in the water level of the Dead Sea Works pool 5. The phosphates extraction process at the pool has raised its water level by 20 centimeters per annum, due to the sinking of the ground salt. Meanwhile, the water level in the northern basin has been falling steadily, due to the diversion of water from the Jordan River.
Netanyahu was presented with three alternative solutions: Harvesting the salt that has accumulated at the bottom of the pool, creating a unique lagoon for the hotels and relocating the hotels to a higher area.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 27, 2011
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