Road to Chelm: Highway 431 to cost double the budget, or NIS 280 million
Haaretz
February 19, 2007
By Sharon Kedmi
The incompetence surrounding the plans to construct a highway connecting Modiin to Rishon Lezion just can't seem to stop. Now it appears that the cost of building the segment of Highway 431 inside the city of Modiin will be double the original budget, or around NIS 280 million, instead of NIS 147 million.
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Construction of the segment will end about two years after the intersection
to which it connects is completed, in another coup for the road planners.
Meanwhile, the NIS 100 million intersection will stand there uselessly.
One reason the costs have spiraled so high is Israel Railways works in the
area. Also, the road was budgeted based on 2003 prices, not 2007 prices.
Netivei Hayovel, which belongs jointly to Danya Cebus (TASE: DNYA) and
Africa Israel (TASE: AFIL) , is presently doing the actual construction work on
Highway 431, which as said will connect between Modiin to Rishon Lezion, at
a total cost of NIS 1.7 billion. The works include building a huge
intersection with Highway 1, which connects Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Netivei Hayovel
expects to complete construction towards year-end.
The "urban" section of Highway 431 connects the city of Modiin to Highway
431 and to Highway 1. This section is inside the city limits of Modiin, and it's
the state's responsibility to have it built. But this section will not only
cost double the original budget, its construction won't be done before 2009.
Ergo, the NIS 100 million intersection that Netivei Hayovel is building
won't be able to serve people traveling on Highway 1 from Modiin to Jerusalem, or
travelers from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to Modiin.
The ultimate responsibility for Highway 431 belongs to the Housing,
Transport, and Finance ministries, the city of Modiin, and recently, the Ayalon
Highways corporation, which undertook the responsibility for planning and
construction.
Sources in government commented that no extra budgets will be made available
for the road. "The ministries that forgot to update the figures have to find the
funding from within their own budgets, or the road won't be built," one said