The Bahai World Center in Haifa is planning to invest $200 million over the next five years to develop Bahai properties in Haifa and Acre. The investments will mostly be used to maintain structures and gardens built over the past decade at a cost of $250 million, and to operate a reservation system and tourist services for the many visitors to the Bahai centers and gardens.
According to the five-year plan, the annual operational and maintenance investment for the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, which employs 160 people, is estimated at $4.8 million.
Additional sums will be designated to build a new Bahai Visitors Center at Bahaji (the last residence and burial site of the Bahai founder, Bab) near Acre. The visitors' center is scheduled to be completed by May 2002. The center’s gardens will be expanded, new maintenance buildings will be constructed and the infrastructure will be upgraded. Parking, fences, internal service roads, and electricity and irrigation systems will be improved, at a cost of NIS 16 million. A small island in the Ne'eman River at the Bahai Gardens in southern Acre will be built, using closed circuit flowing water, at an investment of NIS 14 million.
An ancient bathhouse at the Mizra'a estate between Acre and Nahariya will also be rebuilt, and will serve as another visitors center. The investment in the project is estimated at over NIS 15 million. Other projects planned for the future include a museum in Acre and an international library at the Bahai Center in Haifa.
The Bahai Center spokesman said the Bahai projects are funded by donations from the Bahai community, because the Bahai oppose government subsidies or funding.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 19 August 2001