Massive construction approved for industrial zone

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The district planning and construction committee has approved an additional 50,000 square meters of construction for Herzliya's industrial zone, reports www.local.co.il. The massive addition - the equivalent of five 10-story office buildings - will increase the amount of construction in the area by almost 10 percent from the current 525,000 square meters. According to the report, the city of Herzliya has been working "for many years" to enable increased construction in its industrial zone. The main obstacles have been the traffic flow and transport access problems in the area, and to solve these, the city widened Rehov Abba Eban and made other changes. The report said the committee had approved the added construction on condition that the city builds a new traffic interchange in the next few years. The report said that with the city getting NIS 270 per square meter per year in property taxes from high-tech companies and NIS 100 per square meter per year from industry, it could expect to rake in millions of shekels from the added construction. Mayor Yael German estimated that the new construction could bring in NIS 5 million per year, and that the area was "very attractive for industry, commerce and offices" despite the current economic crisis. She said she envisaged no problems with hundreds or thousands of additional workers entering the area every day, with more people using the city's free shuttle bus service to and from the train station.