Minister of Transport Ephraim Sneh has decided that the Ben Gurion 2000 terminal would open in 2004, four years after the original target date. Sneh said he made the decision “to enable the completion of vital work, in order to allow the terminal to be operated at a high level of quality and provide a high level of service.”
Sneh today adopted the recommendations of the committee he set up last July to investigate the failures of the project. The venture is operated by the Airports Authority. Committee chairman Maj. Gen. (res.) Menachem Einan was asked to investigate the delays in the timetable, and recommend ways of completing the project
The committee said it would be possible to open the new terminal in March 2004.
Sneh, adopting another of the committee’s recommendations, instructed the Airports Authority to start immediately planning the fourth arm of the future terminal, so that when the terminal opens, the airport will be prepared to absorb the number of passengers it has been designed to accommodate.
The committee also recommended that the authority adjust and synchronize the timetables of all contractors, in order to create a basis for following up the joint work. It was also decided to manage all work on the Ben Gurion 2000 project under a single, integrative umbrella, led by a manager appointed by the Airports Authority director general. The manager will be authorized to take substantive decisions that will enabe the project to be completed.
The Einan committee found that the delays that held up the beginning of the work,scheduled to start in 1996 and continue for four years, was due to delays in the discussions of the National Planning and Building Board. The project started only in mid-1998.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 24 December, 2001