For the first time, the cabinet will allow full ownership of residential land.
The government today approved the recommendations by the Gadish committee for reform in the Israel Land Administration (ILA). Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor Ehud Olmert, who is responsible for the ILA, said, “This amounts to a revolution in the management of Israeli land. This is a historic decision, because the government of Israel is for the first time allowing full ownership of residential land.”
Olmert said that reform would relieve people’s dependence on the ILA’s administrative system.
The agreement between the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the ILA, under which the JNF will receive alternative land in the Negev and Galilee and monetary compensation for land in the central region enabled Olmert to bring the Gadish recommendations to the cabinet.
The reform will make the following significant changes:
- Marketing residential land: Land zoned as residential will be marketed with full existing and future rights. The ILA will grant ownership of land to renters of municipal land who have capitalized their rights, in order to enable holders of rights to dispense with the ILA’s services. This recommendation will not apply to community and common areas on moshavim (cooperative settlements) and kibbutzim (collective settlements).
- Land for business: The ILA has undertaken a capitalization campaign for land zoned for business in the municipal sector.
- Registration and legal arrangements: Arrangements and registration of land rights in Israel will be expedited. The ILA will no longer register contractual rights for land. The existing lag in land arrangement proceedings and registration of rights, amounting to 400,000 housing units, will be eliminated.
- Outline and detailed planning: Responsibility for outline planning at all levels (national, regional, and local) will be in the hands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs planning department. The ILA, Ministry of Housing and Construction, and local authorities, and other government ministries will be responsible for detailed planning.
- Development and marketing of land in Israel: Responsibility for developing municipal infrastructure in Israeli land projects will be gradually shifted to the local authorities.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on June 19, 2005