National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says he expects that approval to move the giant fuel containers out of the Kiryat Haim neighborhood will be granted by the end of this year, reports Yediot Haifa. The minister told the head of the Kiryat Haim neighborhood committee Oded Dunietz that he had instructed employees in his department "to assist in every way possible to speed up the progress of the project to evacuate the containers and the fuel terminal."
According to the report, Ben-Eliezer said that moving the containers was dependent on the cooperation of several authorities, but he expected that all the authorizations necessary could be granted by the end of 2008. Dunietz was skeptical about the minister's promises, saying that five years ago the prime minister and other ministers had said the containers would be removed, and yet they were still in the same location.
"There are 870 dunams here, on the sea shore, opposite a view of the most beautiful bay in Israel," Dunietz said. "This area could see the construction of about 7,000 residential units, but even before this, evacuating these giant fuel containers would contribute to a rise in the value of the land and homes in the area." Dunietz added that removing the unsightly containers would "at last enable the Haifa Bay to refine its special qualities."
