CABINET APPROVES PM SHARON’S AYALON PARK PROPOSAL

Members of the Cabinet Today approved – in a telephone vote – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s proposal regarding the establishment of Ayalon Park, which will serve as a green space for the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area and will be designated for the benefit of the general public. The planned Ayalon Park stretches over approximately 8,000 dunams in the center of the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area. This area will serve as a focus for recreation and leisure activity and will include (inter alia): a lake, sports facilities, community centers, an amphitheater, walking trails, tropical gardens etc. Included in the framework of the planned Ayalon Park project is a process to rehabilitate the Hiriya dump, which will be covered with varied and colorful vegetation. In order to carry out the blueprint for Ayalon Park, a body will be established to manage the Park in a way that will assure the preservation of the area as an open space for future generations. A team composed of representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Environment ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Israel Lands Administration, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and various local and regional councils will – within three months – recommend to the Cabinet the appropriate legal-organizational structure for the aforementioned body, which will be responsible for planning, establishing and developing the Park. The Government, local councils, overseas donors, Mifal Hapayis (the national lottery), the Jewish National Fund and additional bodies that have expressed a willingness to participate in financing the project, will cooperate in developing the Park, at a cost of hundreds of millions of shekels. BPI-info