On Friday afternoon, the Tel Aviv District Court accepted the position of NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System, the government company responsible for the Tel Aviv light railway project, that work on the project taking place deep within the earth should not be halted because of concern about human life. The court's ruling caused demonstrations in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community that halted traffic on Highway 4 on Friday night. Following the demonstration, Bnei Brak residents rioted at the Em Hamoshavot light railway site and tried to break through the fences surrounding the site.
"Globes" now reveals for the first time that these events were preceded in recent months by a series of dramatic events focusing on a unilateral halt in work on the Sabbath by Danya Cebus Ltd. (TASE: DNYA) following heavy pressure exerted by the Bnei Brak municipality. This resulted in grave safety offenses, after which NTA stopped work on the line for two months.
The legal proceedings between the Bnei Brak municipality, NTA, and Danya Cebus have been taking place for four years. It was originally agreed that tunneling work would take place on the Sabbath. A year ago, however, the Bnei Brak municipality and Rabbi Landau, who is very influential in Bnei Brak, retracted their agreement, after which Danya Cebus reached its own agreements with the Bnei Brak municipality on stopping work on the Sabbath.
In October 2017, NTA learned about this undertaking, which constituted a breach of the safety rules - a stoppage arouses concern for human life - because of the accumulation of sinkholes - depressions in the earth that complicate continued work by the tunneling machine and can cause a cave-in, because the area is beneath the Jabotinsky Rd. traffic artery and is near a residential area.
NTA then sent Danya Cebus an official letter demanding that it withdraw its undertaking to the Bnei Brak municipality. Instructions by the chief engineer were attached to the letter stating that the machine digging the tunnel should not be halted and instruction for safety measures when it is stopped, including an instruction not to halt the digging work under Jabotinsky Rd. Even for several months after that, however, when digging took place under an open area, the machines were stopped on the Sabbath. The warnings by NTA materialized: two serious safety events occurred underground.
During the legal hearing last Friday, Danya Cebus CEO Ronen Ginsburg admitted that the events had occurred, saying, "It must be understood that we made a very grave engineering error, after which we had two serious sinkholes… in addition, we endangered the workers inside the machine when it got stuck. A cave-in on the head of the machine, an earth contraction that preventing the machine from moving, and the need to release the earth and pump a large quantity of sand is causing a cave-in. It can cause the machine to collapse, sealing off elements in the machine, and killing people inside the machine. The Chinese are already afraid."
"The first cave-in occurred when the machine left the protected cell in the direction of Jabotinsky Rd. As a result of the halt in work on the weekend, the same collapse occurred, and NTA halted the work for two months," Ginsburg told the court on Friday.
"The municipality issued a different order every day"
Why did Danya Cebus deal directly with the Bnei Brak municipality and unilaterally halt the work? "At Danya Cebus, we have a lot to lose in Bnei Brak," Ginsburg testified.
According to an infrastructure industry source, the Bnei Brak municipality exerted heavy pressure on Danya Cebus: "The municipality issued a different order every day: stop the water, disconnect from the sewage and the electricity, issued personal indictments - all in the struggle over the Sabbath.
Sources inform "Globes" that relations between Danya Cebus and the Bnei Brak municipality are troubling the company to the extent that Moti Ben-Moshe, the new owner of Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL), the parent company of Danya Cebus, entered the picture and offered the Bnei Brak municipality a compromise. The Bnei Brak municipality rejected the compromise for its own reasons, while NTA, which was not involved in these contacts, also rejected it, saying that it did not solve the safety problem.
Describing the involvement of Moti Ben-Moshe, Ginsburg stated, "On Sunday at 9:00 PM, they summoned me together with the designated owner of the company to meet with Rabbi Landau. By the way, we didn't show the compromise offered by Moti (Ben-Moshe) before Yom Kippur to NTA or anyone else."
Bnei Brak municipality: We did not agree to have work done on the Sabbath
Most of the the tunnel digging work by NTA in the project has been completed, except for the area beneath Bnei Brak under Jabotinsky Road near a residential district. According to NTA, this work is scheduled to be completed in three or four months. The Red Line will be the first line to begin operating in the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The projected completion date is October 2021. The Red Line, which will travel between Petah Tikva and Bat Yam via Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan, and Tel Aviv, is intended to serve 250,000 residents and workers in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area. The Tel Aviv light rail project, which is expected to relieve road congestion in the area, is being carried out by NTA at a total cost of NIS 45 billion. Tenders were recently published for construction of two additional lines: the Green Line and the Purple Line.
The Bnei Brak municipality said in response, "This report is false - the Bnei Brak municipality signed no agreement to have work carried out on the Sabbath. The only agreement signed, which was with the state, provides that no work will be carried out on the Sabbath. Agreements with the haredi community should be kept. People who sign an agreement should know what they are signing."
NTA said, "Construction work on the Red Line is being carried out in compliance with rigorous safety routes and quality standards. As was explained to the Bnei Brak municipality, and as the court ruled, the continuity of digging work is essential in order to maintain the stability of the land for the sake of the workers' and residents' safety."
No response was available from Danya Cebus or Moti Ben-Moshe. Bnei Brak pressed Danya Cebus to stop TA light rail work on the Sabbath The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that tunneling work on the light rail should continue on the Sabbath. Sonia Gorodeisky and Ori Chudy On Friday afternoon, the Tel Aviv District Court accepted the position of NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System, the government company responsible for the Tel Aviv light railway project, that work on the project taking place deep within the earth should not be halted because of concern about human life. The court's ruling caused demonstrations in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community that halted traffic on Highway 4 on Friday night. Following the demonstration, Bnei Brak residents rioted at the Em Hamoshavot light railway site and tried to break through the fences surrounding the site.
"Globes" now reveals for the first time that these events were preceded in recent week and months by a series of dramatic events focusing on a unilateral halt in work on the Sabbath by Danya Cebus following heavy pressure exerted by the Bnei Brak municipality. This resulted in grave safety offenses, after which NTA stopped work on the line for two months.
The legal proceedings between the Bnei Brak municipality, NTA, and Danya Cebus have been taking place for four years. It was originally agreed that tunneling work would take place on the Sabbath. A year ago, however, the Bnei Brak municipality and Rabbi Landau, who is very influential in Bnei Brak, retracted their agreement, after which Danya Cebus reached its own agreements with the Bnei Brak municipality on stopping work on the Sabbath.
In October 2017, NTA learned about this undertaking, which constituted a breach of the safety rules - a stoppage arouses concern for human life - because of the accumulation of sinkholes - depressions in the earth that complicate continued work by the tunneling machine and can cause a cave-in, because the area is beneath the Jabotinsky Rd. traffic artery and is near a residential area.
NTA then sent Danya Cebus an official letter demanding that it withdraw its undertaking to the Bnei Brak municipality. Instructions by the chief engineer were attached to the letter stating that the machine digging the tunnel should not be halted and including instruction for instituting safety measures when it is stopped, including an instruction not to halt the digging work under Jabotinsky Rd. Even for several months after that, however, when digging took place under an open area, the machines were stopped on the Sabbath. The warnings by NTA materialized: two serious safety events occurred underground.
During the legal hearing last Friday, Danya Cebus CEO Ronen Ginsburg admitted that the events had occurred, saying, "It must be understood that we made a very grave engineering error, after which we had two serious sinkholes… in addition, we endangered the workers inside the machine when it got stuck. A cave-in on the head of the machine, an earth contraction that preventing the machine from moving, and the need to release the earth and pump a large quantity of sand is causing a cave-in. It can cause the machine to collapse, sealing off elements in the machine, and killing people inside the machine. The Chinese are already afraid."
"The first cave-in occurred when the machine left the protected cell in the direction of Jabotinsky Rd. As a result of the halt in work on the weekend, the same collapse occurred, and NTA halted the work for two months," Ginsburg told the court on Friday.
"The municipality issued a different order every day"
Why did Danya Cebus deal directly with the Bnei Brak municipality and unilaterally halt the work? "At Danya Cebus, we have a lot to lose in Bnei Brak," Ginsburg testified. The company does a great deal of work, all of its connected to the light rail project in Bnei Brak.
According to an infrastructure industry source, the Bnei Brak municipality exerted heavy pressure on Danya Cebus: "The municipality issued a different order every day: stop the water, disconnect from the sewage and the electricity, issued personal indictments - all in the struggle over the Sabbath.
Sources inform "Globes" that relations between Danya Cebus and the Bnei Brak municipality are troubling the company to the extent that Moti Ben-Moshe, the new owner of Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL), the parent company of Danya Cebus, entered the picture and offered the Bnei Brak municipality a compromise on its own authority. The Bnei Brak municipality rejected the compromise for its own reasons, while NTA, which was also not involved in these contacts, also rejected it, saying that it did not solve the safety problem.
Describing the involvement of Ben-Moshe, Ginsburg stated, "On Sunday at 9:00 PM, they summoned me together with the designated owner of the company to meet with Rabbi Landau. By the way, we didn't show the compromise offered by Moti (Ben-Moshe) before Yom Kippur to NTA or anyone else."
Bnei Brak municipality: We did not agree to have work done on the Sabbath
Most of the the tunnel digging work by NTA in the project has been completed, except for the area beneath Bnei Brak under Jabotinsky Road near a residential district. According to NTA, this work is scheduled to be completed in three or four months. The Red Line will be the first line to begin operating in the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The projected completion date is October 2021. The Red Line, which will travel between Petah Tikva and Bat Yam via Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan, and Tel Aviv, is intended to serve 250,000 residents and workers in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area. The Tel Aviv light rail project, which is expected to relieve road congestion in the area, is being carried out by NTA at a total cost of NIS 45 billion. Tenders were recently published for construction of two additional lines: the Green Line and the Purple Line.
The Bnei Brak municipality said in response, "This report is false - the Bnei Brak municipality signed no agreement to have work carried out on the Sabbath. The only agreement signed, which was with the state, provides that no work will be carried out on the Sabbath. Agreements with the haredi community should be kept. People who sign an agreement should know what they are signing."
NTA said, "Construction work on the Red Line is being carried out in compliance with rigorous safety routes and quality standards. As was explained to the Bnei Brak municipality, and as the court ruled, the continuity of digging work is essential in order to maintain the stability of the land for the sake of the workers' and residents' safety."
No response was available from Danya Cebus or Ben-Moshe.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 26, 2018
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