Stop blasts, demands Haifa deputy mayor

He says the explosions currently being carried out inside Mount Carmel are too powerful and should be limited.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Haifa Deputy Mayor and green faction head Shmuel Gelbhart says the explosions currently being carried out inside Mount Carmel during the building of the Carmel tunnels are too powerful and should be limited, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Haifa. Gelbhart says he has received numerous complaints from residents on the mountain that the blasts are rocking their homes to the foundations and are causing a significant amount of damage. According to the report, the explosions are being carried out by the Yefeh-Nof municipal building company as it carves its way through the mountain in the NIS 1 billion tunnels project, which will create two 4.5km east-west tunnels under the city. Work began on the project in April last year and it is slated for completion in 2010. The report said Gelbhart had taken the complaints to the city engineer, who responded that the explosions were within the standards. "This answer is not acceptable," Gelbhart said. "The conclusion is that the standards are friendlier to entrepreneurs than they are to residents." A spokesman for the tunnels project said the blasts were the best way to carry out the work, which was proceeding on schedule.