The Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee will be asked to approve a plan to cover a section of the Begin Highway later this month to make room for construction and public spaces, "Yediot Ahronot" reports.
The plan calls for covering the section of Begin Highway between the Givat Shaul and Givat Mordechai interchanges adjacent to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Givat Ram campus.
The plan, initiated by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, calls for the construction of a 70,000 square meter high-tech and biotech park, which will work closely with the university. On the land above Begin highway, 1,830 housing units will also be built, 250 sheltered homes, 13,390 square meters of commercial space as well as public spaces, footpaths and cycle paths including a 240 dunam (60 acre) park.
The project is being designed by Jerusalem architectural firm Kolker Kolker Epstein and is similar in concept to the project already approved to cover sections of Tel Aviv's Ayalon Highway.
Barkat told "Yediot Ahronot", "Jerusalem has huge relative advantages on a world scale regarding academia and high-tech. In order to overcome the lack of land, we have been thinking out of the box and we've created a revolutionary plan with parks and green spaces, a high-tech village and thousands of new housing units that will let us develop more jobs and higher education opportunities and allow more homes for young families and parks."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 1, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017