"Coordination between the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior will enable us to keep the pace and marketing some IDF bases in two years. By 2019, all the bases will have an approved urban building plan for marketing," Ministry of Defense head of logistics operations and properties Brig.-Gen. (res.) Betzalel Trayber told the Knesset State Control Committee today. The committee was holding its third meeting on the State Comptroller's report on the evacuation of IDF bases.
The 2011 report by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss criticized the IDF for moving too slowly to return bases located in urban areas to the state. These bases have a total area of over 50,000 dunam (12,500 acres), including sites at Sde Dov Airport in north Tel Aviv, Tel Hashomer, Zerifin, and Glilot, in the greater Tel Aviv area, the Adjunct General's offices in Ramat Gan, Kastina, and Camp 80 outside Hadera. The report added that IDF continues to hold 38,000 dunam (9,500 acres) of abandoned bases with contaminated land.
Trayber said that the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance, and Israel Land Authority had recently reached a deal under which the Ministry of Defense will manage the planning of vacated bases and prepare them for marketing. He added that the agreement, due to be signed two week ago, would be signed soon, probably early next week.
"Once the agreement is signed, we will be able to begin practical planning, and we know how to do this. We can begin high-speed planning procedures. We've invested resources in this, including time and money."
The State Control Committee decided to hold another meeting on the subject in six months.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 18, 2012
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