Knesset panel mulls moving government offices to capital

Transfer of offices from Tel Aviv to J'lem would create an additional 3,500 jobs for the city’s residents.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Knesset session 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Knesset session 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In honor of Jerusalem Day, the Knesset Economics Committee held a special session on Wednesday morning to discuss moving government offices from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, to create jobs in the capital.
The political activist group Hitorerut Yerushalayim (Awakening Jerusalem) estimated that if satellite government offices, such as the personal offices of three ministers, were transferred to Jerusalem, it would provide an additional 3,500 jobs to the city’s residents.
At the session, members of the Jerusalem city council argued with the Interior Ministry about whether the ministry should implement additional procedures to make it more difficult for government buildings to get approved for building outside the capital.
In response, the Finance Ministry said it would publish tenders for three new government buildings in Jerusalem: a new State Comptroller’s Office building and two towers at the entrance of the city for general government workers from a variety of branches.