Tensions high in Herzliya over electricity request delays

Herzliya residents wishing to hook up electricity - so they can begin construction work on their new homes - have to wait several months.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Herzliya residents wishing to obtain temporary electricity so they can begin construction work on new homes are being forced to wait for months because of an apparent budget shortfall in the city, reports www.mynet.co.il. While residents wishing to build homes in other cities in the Sharon can get approval for a temporary electricity hook-up within days, residents in Herzliya have been surprised to discover that they need to wait for several months. According to the report, the problem came to light after a Herzliya resident asked the city for approval for a temporary electricity connection so that construction could begin on her new home. "It was explained to me that because of budget savings, Herzliya residents have to wait a very long and unreasonable time for temporary electricity, while in the other cities this doesn't happen because there is a budget for it," the woman said. "I was in shock when they said that in Herzliya the approval would take a minimum of two months. I turned to the city's roads department and they explained that there is no budget to speed the process up." The report said that in Ramat Hasharon, for example, a special member of staff dealt with such requests and transferred them to the Israel Electric Company (IEC), with the result that requests were approved within days. An IEC spokesman confirmed that requests from Herzliya were taking "significantly longer" than those from neighboring cities, and could even stretch to several months. No response was reported from the city of Herzliya.