Jordan Times
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- The Ministry of Environment has instructed 16 farms in the Ghor to
relocate to areas removed from residential neighbourhoods after repeated
complaints of foul odours being emitted from their premises, a ministry
official said on Saturday.
Continue reading "16 dairy farms asked to relocate away from residential areas" »
Jordan Times
July 30, 2007
King urges speedy work on "King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz Al Saud Residential
City" designed to ensure citizens reasonably-priced housing
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN -- King Abdullah on Monday issued instructions to the government to
accelerate efforts to build the King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Residential City In Zarqa.
Continue reading "Zarqa residential city project to start in August" »
Jordan Times
July 30, 2007
King urges speedy work on "King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz Al Saud Residential
City" designed to ensure citizens reasonably-priced housing
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN -- King Abdullah on Monday issued instructions to the government to
accelerate efforts to build the King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Residential City In Zarqa.
Continue reading "Zarqa residential city project to start in August" »
Haaretz
August 2, 2007
By Jack Khoury
From a distance, the eastern neighborhood of the Galilee village of Majdal Krum looks pastoral, its relatively new homes sitting along green hills. Yesterday at dusk, a lone horse was even wandering in the fields. To the south, the nearby villas of Karmiel come into view. But as you come closer, you quickly see why residents call it "Sewage Valley."
Continue reading "In 'Sewage Valley,' no solution in the pipeline" »
Jordan Times
July 18, 2007
Yusuf Mansur
The Ministry of Water and Irrigation is planning to build a water treatment plant less than two miles from the Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA). In spite of its perfect knowledge of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) plan, the planned and already approved expansion of the airport and the opposition of the Ministry of Environment, the ministry seems adamant. Maybe there should be more communication among the government’s various branches.
Haaretz
July 19, 2007
By Zafrir Rinat
The Water Commission warns of possible exposure to poisonous fumes that could spread from polluted land and water sources on sites planned for construction projects in the Dan region, which includes Tel Aviv and Givatayim. Such plans include the "City Project," located in a major commercial and industrial area in the Givatayim municipality, just south of the diamond exchange. The Water Commission has been running tests of the ground water and land pollution levels in the Dan region for the past three years.
Continue reading "Poisonous fumes threaten building plans in Dan region" »
The Jerusalem Post
Jul. 17, 2007
Etgar Lefkovits
A 5,500-dunam area of natural forest and park land on the periphery of Jerusalem will be designated as Emek Refaim Park and declared a "green area" where construction is forbidden, the municipality said this week.
Continue reading "Jerusalem to declare massive 'green area'" »
Haaretz
July 12, 2007
By Zafrir Rinat
The Civil Administration and the Water and Sewage Authority recently approved the construction of a pipe to channel purified sewage to irrigate agriculture in the Jordan Valley.
But environmental experts say the move will prevent an overall solution to the problem of the flow of sewage from Jerusalem and Bethlehem into the Kidron Stream toward the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea.
Continue reading "Pipe to channel purified sewage for farming, but problems abound" »
Jerusalem Post
July 4, 2007
By Etgar Lefkovits
A Jerusalem court has renewed a ban on the opening of a major new thoroughfare in the capital until repairs are made to environmental and landscape damages caused by the paving of the road court documents released Tuesday show.
The Jerusalem District Court accepted an appeal late Monday that was filed by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel which argued that required environmental work in and around the road has not been completed as required by law.
Continue reading "Court once again delays opening of Jerusalem highway" »
Haaretz
July 3, 2007
By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
A new highway, aimed at substantially alleviating traffic congestion in the entrances to and exits from Jerusalem, will not open until repairs are made to environmental and landscape damages caused by the paving of the road.
The Jerusalem District Court on Monday received a petition, filed by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, seeking to prevent the highway from being opened.
Continue reading "J'lem highway opening delayed due to environmental damage" »
Jordan Times
Jul. 1, 2007
AMMAN -- Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Saturday said the government will pursue efforts to solve environmental problems in Fuheis, mainly caused by the presence of the Jordan Cement Factories Company (JCFC) in the city.
During a meeting yesterday with Vice Chairman of the French La Farge Company Eric Meuriot, the premier voiced hope that La Farge would work out drastic solutions for the environmental problems and stabilise cement prices.
Continue reading "Gov't to pursue efforts to solve environment problems in Fuheis" »
Arab Environmental Monitor
Monday, July 02, 2007
By: Batir Wardam
You will have to search several locations in the World to find a situation similar to Aqaba’s: Jordan’s only outlet to the sea. This is a unique case of a confined, fragile and exquisite ecosystem subject to the cumulative effect of the “triangle of environmental threats”: Industry, tourism and transport.
Continue reading "Aqaba's Environmental Prospects 2007-2010" »
Jordan Times
June 27, 2007
Multimillion-dinar residential city named after Saudi Monarch
AMMAN (Petra) — A multimillion-dinar residential city will be built near Zarqa to tackle overcrowding and help citizens on low and limited incomes buy suitable housing.
The 70,000-unit project, to be built on 21,000 state-owned dunums, was announced at a Royal Court meeting attended by King Abdullah and Saudi King Abdullah, who concluded yesterday a key two-day visit to Jordan.
Jordan Times
June 27, 2007
AMMAN (JT) — The 2007 State of the World Population report, entitled
Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, will be officially launched worldwide today.
“In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of world population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. Most of the new urbanities will be poor… most cities will struggle to meet current needs,” according to the report, released by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
Continue reading "2007 population report to be launched today" »
Jordan Times
June 28, 2007
By Linda Hindi, Jordan Times, Amman
AMMAN -- Jordan and other developing countries need to acknowledge and prepare for the inevitable surge in urban growth, which is expected to double by the year 2030, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The 2007 State of the World Population Report released on Wednesday warns governments to take immediate action before negative consequences outweigh positive potentials.
Continue reading "Speed, scale of urban growth unprecedented -- UNFPA" »
Haaretz
June 27, 2007
By Tahal Frosh
The failure to rehabilitate land once used by a military factory is costing the state $1 billion in revenues. A seriously polluted 450-dunam (110-acre) plot in Herzliya's Nof Yam neighborhood used to be the site of an Israel Military Industries plant, and the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense is sponsoring legislation to get it cleaned up. The "green" advocacy organization says the state could make about $1 billion in betterment tax on the land if it were to be cleared for construction, based on the local norm of $5 million per dunam. The organization also estimates Herzliya's lost tax revenues at NIS 21 million annually. Developers could see net profits of $900 million from construction at the site.
Continue reading "State delays rehab of severly polluted land, loses $1 billion tax revenue" »
Haaretz
June 27, 2007
By Uri Blau
Last December, as part of the lesson-learning process in the wake of the Second Lebanon War, the Environment Ministry established a public committee chaired by Major General (Res.) Herzl Shafir to examine the preparedness of facilities containing hazardous substances in the north of the country for emergency situations. Initial and partial conclusions of the committee were made public, and seemed to be quite innocuous. Now it turns out that the true dynamite that turned up in the Shafir Committee's hearings remained classified. Haaretz has obtained the complete data about the dangers of the industrial plants in Haifa Bay, as it appears in the committee's internal documents.
THE JERUSALEM POST
tamar lafontaine,
Jun. 21, 2007
The battle against the Safdie Plan, which called for building 20,000 housing units on 24,000 dunams in the hills west of Jerusalem, mobilized one of the largest coalitions of activists ever assembled in the city, comprising environmental, planning and social action groups as well as MKs, artists and intellectuals. The effort garnered more than 16,000 public objections, including that of Mayor Uri Lupolianski.
The scope of the opposition campaign, and the Safdie Plan's subsequent rejection by the National Planning Council in February of this year, renewed the public's confidence in its ability to effect change. It also raised questions about the efficacy of the planning process itself, which only involves the public at the objections stage, after a significant amount of time and money has already been spent developing a plan.
Jordan Times
By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Monday announced the second
phase of its Master Plan, termed the “Corridor Intensification Strategy.”
The Master Plan provides clear direction for the sustainable development of
the capital over the next 20 years, in accordance with new planning legislation.
Continue reading "GAM launches second phase of Master Plan" »
THE JERUSALEM POST
June 14, 2007
RON FRIEDMAN
Jerusalem cleaned up at last week's Green Globe awards, held to honor leaders in environmental protection. The ceremony, organized by Life and Environment, an umbrella organization that includes over 95 groups, was held at the Duhl Center in Tel Aviv to celebrate World Environment Day, a UN initiative.
The Jerusalem Post
Jun. 14, 2007
Barry Davis
If you asked most Tel Aviv cyclists if they would consider wheeling their way from home to work (and possibly even do a little shopping) if they lived in Jerusalem, you would probably get a blank stare of incredulity in response.
"But what about all those hills?" is the general reaction.
The Jerusalem Post
Jun. 11, 2007
Etgar Lefkovits
Motorists to Jerusalem awaiting the much-touted opening of a major city road which is meant to alleviate the congestion at the entrance to the capital need to put brakes on their expectations of imminent traffic relief.
A Jerusalem court will hold another hearing later this month over the opening of the road, which has been held up by the court partly as a result of environmental concerns, officials said.
Continue reading "No light at end of tunnel for new Jerusalem road" »
Haaretz
June 12, 2007
By Avi Bar-Eli
The director general of the Transportation Ministry, Gideon Siterman, has said big cities may have to introduce a congestion charge to discourage drivers from using their own vehicles.
Continue reading "'Congestion charge' needed to boost public transport" »
The Jerusalem Post
May. 31, 2007
Gil Zohar
Jerusalem's reputation for the ludicrous was enhanced on May 20, when Jerusalem District Court ruled against the opening of a new expressway that was planned to relieve the perpetual traffic jam at the entrance to the capital. As reported in In Jerusalem ("Warning: Construction ahead," May 18), the road was scheduled to open on May 21.
Haaretz
May 8, 2007
By Zafrir Rinat
Last week the future of the mineral water plant next to the Ein Gedi nature reserve was ensured. The Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA) signed an agreement with Kibbutz Ein Gedi, one of the owners of the plant, to make it possible for the kibbutz to use a large quantity of the water from the springs. In return, the kibbutz will supply the nature reserve with flood water that it pumps from the slopes of the streams in the region.
Haaretz
March 7, 2007
Reuters
For some the rocket barrages of last summer's war trapped people inside, for others weekends home were particulary poignant for weary fighters and their partners. The war, in short, triggered a baby boom, according to Channel 10 television yesterday. It quoted health maintenance organization statistics that the number of women now in their fifth, sixth or seventh month of pregnancy was 35 percent higher than the figure a year ago.
Continue reading "HMO data: Lebanon war lead to baby boom" »
Jordan Times
March 9, 2007
Khalid Neimat
AMMAN -- The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Jordan has called on the private sector to support the Amman Master Plan, announced by the Greater Amman Municipality's (GAM) last month.
"We will prop up the plan internally and globally to attract foreign investments," AmCham-Jordan Chairman Azzam Shweihat said.
Haaretz
March 8, 2007
By Pe'er Visner
It's just like Israel to take a great idea and execute it badly, wasting taxpayers' money and even putting lives at risk.
That's the case regarding the idea of levying congestion tax on travelers using the Ayalon Freeway, to reduce traffic in Tel Aviv.
The Jerusalem Post
Mar. 1, 2007
ryan nadel
One p.m. at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall. A choir of Chinese Christians serenely sings hymns as a bearded man hocks tefillin to passersby. Just meters away, a self-declared prophet preaches redemption and a steady stream of shoppers stroll by without taking note.
Welcome to Jerusalem's city center.
Haaretz
March 1, 2007
By Avi Bar-Eli
All month a private consultancy has been assessing the possibility of imposing congestion charges to ease traffic in Tel Aviv.
Transportation engineers, academics, economists, pollsters and other professionals at the consultancy recently completed a survey of congestion charge implementation around the world and have begun to think of a plan for Israel.
Continue reading "Tel Aviv mulling London-style congestion fees" »
Haaretz
February 27, 2007
By Mijal Grinberg and Tzafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondents
Representatives of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Society for the Preservation of Nature said Tuesday they would battle against plans to establish new communities in the northern Negev for families evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
Continue reading "Green agencies oppose construction for Gaza evacuees" »
Haaretz
Updated March 1, 2007
By Haaretz Editorial
The theft of private land and lawless construction, with the authorities' collaboration, have long been routine in the land of the settlers. The scope of these deeds and their seriousness are described extensively in the report on illegal outposts compiled by Talia Sasson, formerly a senior state prosecution attorney. The report was buried almost two years ago.
Jordan Times
February 22, 2007
AMMAN (Petra) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday reiterated the importance of the land use plan, part of the Amman Master Plan prepared by the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM).
Continue reading "King reiterates importance of land use plan" »
Haaretz
February 14, 2007
By Avi Issacharoff and Aluf Benn
A group of Palestinian entrepreneurs yesterday presented plans to create a new Palestinian city in the West Bank, located between Ramallah and Nablus.
The group, headed by businessman Abd al-Malik Jabbar, presented its plan to Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. officials during an economic conference at the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones.
Continue reading "Palestinian Authority proposes building new city in West Bank" »
The Jerusalem Post
Feb. 22, 2007
LEAH GRANOF, THE JERUSALEM POST
A single snapshot could capture the entire settlement of Haruv's long row of temporary houses built on a solitary street. But that picture would hardly encapsulate the essence of this community, 20 kilometers east of Kiryat Gat. Located next to the agricultural community of Shekef, Haruv's one street, adorned with playgrounds at each end and dogs cavorting with unabashed freedom, is only a temporary stopover for the community of 35 families awaiting construction of a permanent location atop the green hills two kilometers away.
Haaretz
Last Update: February 24, 2007
By Esther Zandberg
Apart from any other implications, the affair of the new Mugrabi bridge is an extreme example of the dark and covert way in which Israel's professional and political planning world conducts itself. This case is neither an exception nor a surprise. This is how the sector has conducted matters for years - as if it were the government's secret service. It is no secret that planning is conducted under a veil of total secrecy. Very few things filter out to the general public in an orderly fashion - and when they become known, it is often too late to do anything. The difference is that this time the affair did not merely leak out, it burst out with a resounding blast.
Continue reading "The architectural conspiracy of silence" »
Haaretz
February 16, 2007
By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
Recently completed research indicates the problem of serious groundwater contamination is widespread throughout the greater Tel Aviv region and covers huge areas of Gush Dan, with several contamination sites.
Six years ago, when the Tel Aviv Water Authority discovered serious contamination on the site of the former Israel Military Industries factory Magen, it thought the problem was contained.
Continue reading "Greater Tel Aviv area riddled with serious groundwater pollution" »
By Sharon Kedmi 25/01/2007
Haaretz
The winning group in the tender for the Tel Aviv light rail has been
announced, but the battle surrounding the excavation method isn't over
yet. TheMarker has found that the Green Party and environmental
factions in Tel Aviv have approached National Infrastructure Minister
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, urgently requesting the suspension of the
project until the issue of excavation is clarified. They have also
demanded that the water authority be included in the process
immediately, and threaten to turn to the courts if these steps aren't
taken.
The environmentalists are demanding that Ben-Eliezer, as the authority
responsible for the water economy in Israel, intervene immediately.
The concern, TheMarker found, is the deep mining method proposed by
MTS, the company awarded the tender, which could cause environmental
damage due to the large quantities of ground water that will have to
be pumped out during digging.
According to estimates made by rail-engineering consultants, the
mining method MTS proposes involves pumping 50 million cubic meters of
water during the five-year construction period, as compared to about
four million cubic meters in the conventional "cover and cut" method
proposed by tender loser Metro Rail. Additionally, there is a risk of
emission of poisonous subterranean gases along part of the route.
Metro Rail has also approached the tenders committee on the issue. A
discussion among the specialists on the committee, however, concluded,
on the basis of the information available to them, that the deep
mining method poses no problem.
Ben-Eliezer's office confirmed that the protests had been received,
and said they had been forwarded to the authorized entities in the
Water Commission.
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
SIDON: The mayor of Sidon, Abdel-Rahman Bizri, has vowed that the Southern port
city's notorious and perennial waste-treatment crisis "will be resolved soon."
Bizri said in a statement issued Monday that efforts to remove the massive dump
were now under way thanks to a donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.
The $5 million donation was originally made in 2004 by the Alwaleed bin Talal
Humanitarian Foundation but had been withheld due to disagreements between the
foundation and the municipality of Sidon over conditions to be met by the
municipality before it could receive the promised funds.
The statement from Bizri said the municipality had fulfilled the foundation's
conditions by acquiring necessary licenses and conducting an
environmental-impact assessment on a plan for the dump's removal. "The
municipality worked in cooperation with South for Construction [a major
contracting firm] to set up a mechanism that ensures the partial use of the
dump without hampering its elimination process," Bizri said.
"We ensure our Sidon neighbors that the dump treatment will not have any
environmental repercussions on their regions," Bizri said. "On the contrary, we
will work simultaneously on establishing a modern waste-treatment plant."
However, environmental activists told The Daily Star the announcement was an
"exaggeration" and that efforts being carried out were aimed at repairing
previous damage caused by the municipality's negligence, not treatment or
removal of the waste heap.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
An environmental activist at the dump said the first phase of the removal
process was to reduce the dump to its original size. "Work is being done to
reduce the trash heap to its initial size, since the dump has grown by more
than 40 percent and now covers land that had originally been set aside for the
waste-treatment plant," the activist told The Daily Star.
"Bulldozers working around the dump are doing nothing but repairing what has
been spoiled by the municipality. Several dumps have resulted from the main
one," said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We are
monitoring the treatment process and awaiting the results."
According to the activist, the reclamation of land for a waste-treatment plant
would take at least another month.
The Sidon dump has been an ongoing crisis for more than 35 years. Over the
decades it has repeatedly caught fire, and in 2005 and 2006 it partially
collapsed into the Mediterranean, sending waste as far as Greece.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=78652
By Haaretz Service
The awarding of the Tel Aviv light rail tender to the MTS group, headed by
Africa Israel, ostensibly heralds a new age of transportation. In practice, the
company faces many obstacles. Above all, it will have to prove - possibly in
court - that the massive tunneling that its construction method entails will
not damage groundwater resources. Afterward, it will have to cope with the
planning agencies of five different local authorities and the challenges of
funding a complex project. At the same time, it will be forced to prove that
its passenger cars are suitable. Construction will take several years, during
which time the region's main traffic arteries will be adversely affected.
Despite these difficulties, we welcome the fact that the plan for the mass
transit project has finally been launched. The plan, which began when Golda
Meir was prime minister, was revived and given priority during Yitzhak Rabin's
term and was shepherded through the advanced planning stages by then finance
minister Avraham Shochat.
The plan, which was developed by Metropolitan Mass Transit System (NTA),
formerly the Tel Aviv Rail Administration, presents a much greater challenge.
At first, there was talk of building a subway similar to those operating in
cities around the world. The advantages of this type of system include
unlimited right of way (underground routes that avoid above-ground traffic
signals, jams and other vehicles), large passenger capacity (due to size,
speed, closely-spaced stations and high frequency of travel), and minimum
environmental impact.
After Rabin's murder in 1995 and the political changes it engendered, all
successive Israeli governments have been wary of spending the enormous amount
required to build a subway. Africa Israel is now taking on a patchwork,
compromise project: a train that will run only partially underground - and,
unusually, not in the city center but rather in intercity stretches. Most of
the train's route will be on the surface, where it will not have the benefits
of speed, high capacity or the right of way.
For now, only the project's Red Line, connecting Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat
Gan and Jaffa-Tel Aviv, to Bat Yam, has been approved. This will reduce road
traffic but is not part of the future traffic network (which remains undefined)
and does not offer a solution to transport in the center of Tel Aviv.
An effective transit system is critical in Tel Aviv, to open up the traffic
blockages that exact a high economic price in Israel's urban center. Following
the impressive development of Israel Railways, ridership has increased from 4
million to 20 million passengers a year in the past eight years. Car owners
have willingly left their cars behind. It is not too late for Tel Aviv. There
is still time to consider building a subway, and to plan a multi-branch
underground system whose speed and convenience will encourage more people to
give up their cars within the city as well. The underground rail system could
still change from being merely a means of transport into the agent of historic,
transportational and economic change.
Al Jazeera
The lack of wind stops the smog from dispersing [AFP]
Air pollution has killed more than 3,000 people during one month in the Iranian
capital, Tehran, according to a local official.
"Pollution has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of 3,600 people in the
month of Aban [October 23 to November 23]," Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh, director
of Tehran's clean air committee, said.
He said that the deaths were caused by heart attacks brought on by the pollution
and that the smog was responsible for 80 per cent of the fatal heart problems in
Tehran.
"It is a very serious and lethal crisis, a collective suicide," he said.
The new figures showed a sharp rise in pollution-related deaths in Tehran -
9,900 people were killed between March 2005 and March 2006.
Carbon monoxide from car exhausts is blamed for the majority of the deaths. 1.3
million ageing cars with poor fuel efficiency are causing respiratory and
cardiac problems for the seven million residents of Tehran.
Half of Iran's six million cars fail to meet global standards and burn twice as
much petrol as a European car. The low cost of petrol keeps the streets packed
with cars and Tehran suffers severe traffic jams during rush hour.
"A real revolution is needed to resolve this problem," Heydarzadeh told
Kargozaran newspaper.
The problem is particularly bad during the winter when a lack of wind and the
cold air means that clouds of smog hang over the city for days on end.
The authorities regularly ask the elderly and children not to leave their homes,
shutting schools to protect the pupils when the pollution is at its peak.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/91192AC2-D3A4-4942-AEE4-CA727EFB2CB1.htm
Daily Star
Thursday, January 11, 2007
BEIRUT: Israel's assault on the Jiyyeh power plant during the war last summer
led to a strict power-rationing schedule, raising concerns about the damage
that private generators may have done to the environment. Many Lebanese chose
to use generators to compensate for electricity shortages, and this decision
could have negative repercussions on their health.
In an article published in the Environment and Development magazine, Environment
Hotline investigated the metal army of generators that has been deployed
throughout the capital in recent months.
Environment Hotline said that a large percentage of these generators were being
operated illegally, with many placed on building rooftops and in lobbies, in
clear violation of a law requiring all generators to be housed away from other
machinery and people.
In addition, high levels of noise and toxic smoke have resulted from generators
being used around the clock.
But the pressing threat that results from the misuse of such machinery is that
of massive noise pollution.
Environment Hotline measured the level of noise produced by one typical
generator, which it found to be operating at 92 decibels. The maximum legal
noise level during daylight hours is 65 decibels.
The Environment Ministry has established strict guidelines concerning the use of
generators, including a regulation requiring all generators to be outfitted with
specific filters to screen toxic fumes. - Environment Hotline
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=78426
(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)
Subject: Jordan Times
Amman’s ‘Green Lung’ nearly complete Jordan Times
By Cheryl Haines
AMMAN — The long-awaited Children’s Museum will be the latest and last
instalment at the widely popular King Hussein Park.
The museum, an initiative of Her Majesty Queen Rania, is the first interactive
and educational institution of its kind in the country, seeking to encourage
exploration and understanding of local culture, science, technology and
industry, through innovative and educational multimedia resources and
programmes through its 150 hands-on exhibits.
Set to open in December, the Children’s Museum lives up to the original vision
of the park, when it opened in 2001.
“The facilities at the park were created through five different goals...
cultural, sport, educational, recreational and environmental,” Munther Al
Saleh, the project director, told The Jordan Times.
Noting that the majority of the park’s visitors on weekends are families, Saleh
said it was “important for people in Amman to have a ‘green space,’ and an
unobstructed area to enjoy with their children.”
Many of the families hail from east Amman, where outdoor areas conducive to
child’s play are few and far between, according to Saleh.
The project director envisions the park as the “Green Lung of Amman.”
“The park is open year-round and children are free to enjoy all of our
facilities. Here children can play and run free. There are no hazards of cars,”
said Saleh, who estimated that the park receives 15,000 visitors on summer
weekends.
Once the museum opens, children who enjoy the park’s open spaces will be able to
benefit from its educational and entertainment displays, including interactive
astronomy and anatomy exhibits.
The park also features security personnel and the Children’s Museum will employ
supervisory staff to help monitor the large groups of children from nearby
schools expected to visit when it opens.
Raja Gargour, director of the Royal Automobile Museum, which is located in the
western part of the facility, sees the museum’s popularity as testament to how
much open areas and parks for children are needed in Amman.
“Spaces of educational impact for youth are in much demand in Jordan,” Gargour
explained.
The Royal Automobile Museum, he added, strives to be a centre of both
educational and cultural significance, combining the late King Hussein’s
much-loved car collection with interactive media presentations and historical
displays.
An American Cadillac, currently on loan to the US, was a gift to King Hussein
from US president Eisenhower. The exhibits tell of “the longevity of King
Hussein’s reign and the good relations he had with many presidents in that
period,” Gargour explained.
Every summer the Royal Automobile Museums puts on a Wire Car Competition where
local youths are placed in teams and encouraged to construct the body of an
actual car using only basic materials.
Gargour emphasised the importance of the annual competitions, noting the skills
the young people must employ as they construct their cars: Teamwork,
leadership, and critical analysis.
While the younger generation gravitate towards the playgrounds and football
fields, the park also offers a variety of facilities for all ages.
Saleh noted that Friday afternoon visitors tend to be families and younger
people, while on weekdays older visitors come to experience the park’s cultural
centres.
The Cultural Village, the first structure to greet visitors entering the park,
highlights Jordan’s heritage.
Exhibits include studios for Arab calligraphy, stone inscriptions, natural dyes,
local ceramics and handicrafts.
The centre overlooks the city to the east and includes a restaurant and outdoor
terraces.
The “Theme Gardens” located in the centre of the park present a collection of
flora and water fountains. The gardens are reminiscent of historical phases of
the country’s history and its geographical landscapes. Cutting through the
gardens is the 400-metre “Promenade of Jordan,” where works of art and
historical representations display the country’s history.
Throughout the facility, water reservoirs were engineered in keeping with the
importance of rationing water consumption in Jordan.
Various basins were constructed to collect and divert rainwater, which are
connected to groundwater reservoirs, and are used for irrigation.
The 5,200-square-metre park is open year-round and is accessible to visitors
with special needs.
(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)
gil zohar, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 14, 2006
In January 5, 2009, Jerusalemites will finally know if the joke is on us.
That morning, the city's NIS 3.2-billion light rail project will either begin
operating on schedule and on budget or - as cynics fear - Jerusalem will be
crippled with a hugely expensive white elephant akin to Boston's infamous Big
Dig.
For readers unfamiliar with the New England city, in 1985 the Massachusetts
metropolis undertook to excavate a $2.5-billion tunnel beneath the historic
downtown, replacing an elevated expressway while updating infrastructure and
creating new parkland. Earlier this summer, after more than $12 billion in cost
overruns, Boston's long-delayed mega-project was temporarily shut down when a
tunnel ceiling panel collapsed, crushing a car and its driver.
Jerusalem's many long-suffering commuters may not face a similar debacle, but
fume they'll be made freiers (suckers) by feckless transportation bureaucrats.
As many have noted, the terminal at Israel's international airport, known as
Ben-Gurion 2000, finally opened in 2004.
They cite the countless revisions to the ambitious initial phase of the Red
Line, which is now set to snake through the city for 13.8 km. beginning at
Pisgat Ze'ev in the north, following Highway 1 south to Kikar Tzahal, where it
will turn west along pedestrian-only Jaffa Road, curve south over a landmark
bridge by the Central Bus Station and then carry along Herzl Boulevard to Yad
Vashem.
Tellingly, they worry, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) offices are hidden away
behind locked doors in the Clal Center - a concrete carbuncle which is arguably
the ugliest, least user-friendly office tower in all of Israel.
Mass transit officials have done a less than stellar job promoting public
understanding of the many traffic interruptions now plaguing Jerusalem, and the
LRT Web site (www.rakevetkala-jerusalem.org) has not updated its English page in
two years.
Hold your horses - or should one say sleek tram carriages - says Shmuel Tsabari,
project manager for the LRT, who says he can practically guarantee his baby will
be delivered on target, if not earlier, and won't cost a grush more than
allocated.
Tsabari's reasoning and the ultimate put-down to know-it-alls? The LRT, with its
46 state-of-the-art streetcars, is largely being built abroad by specialized
foreign companies which are bound by stiff penalties for any contract
violations or delays - and don't share the Levantine mentality of shuwaya,
shuwaya (little by little).
Known as BOT (build, operate and transfer), the plan is that by transferring
responsibility to overseas engineering firms, the privatized LRT will be able
to avoid the snafus of government involvement. Under the funding formula, NIS
1.2 billion is coming directly from taxpayers while NIS 2.2-billion is being
raised by City Pass, a consortium of French, Italian and Israeli companies that
in 1995 received a 30-year concession to build and operate the light rail
system. The contract includes a buy-back option after seven years.
In a futuristic fantasia worthy of Jules Verne or Theodor Herzl - who in his
1902 epochal work Altneuland (Old-New Country) envisioned a European-style tram
network spanning rebuilt Jerusalem - there will be 24 stations with trains
manufactured in La Rochelle, France, quietly gliding by every four minutes.
Emblematic of the whole complex enterprise and perhaps its most controversial
element will be the Bridge of Strings, a 340-meter-long single column
suspension bridge designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that
promises to become an icon of the Israeli capital akin to San Francisco's
Golden Gate Bridge.
Calatrava's slender curved span will soar above the perpetual traffic jam at the
intersection of Jaffa Road and Shazar and Herzl boulevards, rising from near the
future train station - which is slated to begin carrying passengers to Modi'in,
Ben-Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv in 2009.
Tsabari dismisses criticism of the Calatrava Bridge as an extravagant waste
conceived by former mayor Ehud Olmert. While a conventional overpass would cost
between NIS 60-80 million, in contrast to the NIS 220 million for Calatrava's
modernist masterpiece, a more plebian bridge would entail some eight support
piers that would result in a concrete warren worthy of the Clal Center.
Instead, Calatrava's elegant solution will float on two bases now under
construction at the project's east and west ends.
"This is a bridge but also a monument," beams Tsabari, after showing an
impressive computer animation. Comparing Calatrava's design to a harp or
shofar, he notes it will be illuminated at night as a landmark of exquisite
beauty. Tourists and Jerusalemites will come to promenade along its pedestrian
path separated from the tramway, he insists.
And what of opposition from Jerusalem's citizens concerned the ultra-modern
design will clash with the historic city's character? Parisians initially hated
the Eiffel Tower when it was erected for the 1889 World's Fair. Guy de
Maupassant, Emile Zola and Alexandre Dumas the Younger were among those who
protested its construction.
How does one go about erecting a 2,600-ton bridge?
The bridge's anchor bases will comprise 70 holes drilled to a depth of 25
meters, each with a radius of between 60 and 90 cm., Tsabari explains.
Such is the public's misunderstanding of the project - or the LRT's failure to
provide information updates - that few people in Jerusalem realize that this
drilling job is now almost complete.
Beginning in December, City Pass will begin constructing a series of temporary
pillars to support the bridge platform. Those 24 metal sheets, currently under
fabrication in Padua, Italy, will be transported at night from the Haifa port.
Each section weighs 40 tons, and Tsabari notes police may have to close
sections of the highway from Sha'ar Hagai to facilitate the huge, slow-moving
transports.
In January 2007, the mastiff, also being made in Italy, will arrive in three
sections of approximately 40 meters each.
"We won't close the expressway entirely," promises Tsabari.
With the 118-meter high pylon in place, work will then begin on laying the 68
cables that will support the unique suspension bridge. Averaging four to six
"strings" per night, Tsabari anticipates somewhat vaguely that this phase will
be finished by next summer.
"I'm not arbitrarily saying summer. This is a very complex thing," he says. For
safety reasons, traffic will not be permitted under the bridge at night during
this phase of construction. Cars and buses will have to detour via Givat Shaul
or Lifta to reach the city center, he says.
Residents of nearby apartment buildings may also be temporarily evacuated during
this phase, explains LRT spokesman Shmulik Elgrably. There may be electricity
interruptions or difficulty in reaching their homes, he adds.
The LRT has appointed Amnon Elian as head of the community team coordinating
arrangements as necessitated by developments.
"Building the LRT isn't virtual," says Elgrably. "You don't do it on the
Internet."
With the bridge's 68 cables in place, the temporary ramps and pillars will then
be removed, the track bed laid and traffic restored.
"There's no question there will be a disturbance to the general public," Tsabari
asserts matter-of-factly. "It's like doing a house renovation."
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(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)
Naomi Tzur, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 21, 2006
The New Year heralds a period of serious soul-searching, during which people
often decide to change their ways or turn over the proverbial new leaf. The
dates of the Jewish calendar take on an uncanny significance when we match them
with the progress of the Safdie Plan, which currently poses the most serious of
threats to the sustainability of Jerusalem's urban environment, imposing 20,000
housing units and a massive $3 billion western ring road on our precious
Jerusalem Hills and draining the lifeblood of the inner city.
Sixteen thousand public objections were submitted to the Safdie plan on the eve
of Tisha Be'av, when we traditionally mourn the destruction of Jerusalem. One
year later, again on the eve of the 9th of Av, the public hearing of the
objections was concluded.
Now, a year and a half later, the debate on the Safdie plan at the National
Planning Council will take place a short time after these days of
soul-searching, and even before the final divine court ruling on Hoshana Raba.
However, if our decision-makers need to use these days to mitigate the harsh
sentence to be meted out to the Jerusalem Hills, we, the Jerusalem public, need
to do some even harder soul-searching. What have we ourselves done to improve
our city's environment, other than complain about whatever aggravates us, be it
litter in the street, light rail works in progress, dangerous holes in the
ground or anything else?
In these few lines I would like to make 10 suggestions for New Year's
resolutions that can cut down our own ecological footprint, probably save money
and definitely make us more responsible citizens.
* Save the water that runs until it gets hot in a bucket.
* Resolve never to drop litter again.
* Turn off unneeded electricity.
* Don't be lazy - take plastic bottles to a bottle cage and collect the deposit
on small plastic bottles and cans, or donate them to charity.
* Don't leave the tap running when you wash dishes or take a shower.
* Make one of your charities an environmental organization.
* Join the activities at a nearby community garden or urban nature site.
* Separate organic waste from the rest in the kitchen, and turn it into compost.
* Let your car rest at least one day a week.
* Choose one errand each week that can be done on foot, without the car.
The above suggestions are ridiculously easy to implement, yet undoubtedly, if
done by all of us, could have a tremendous positive impact on the city.
In fact, in spite of the pessimistic tone we hear from all sides, I would
express cautious optimism for the coming year, and pride in this year's
achievements:
• Environmental organizations in the city completed a survey of neighborhood
parks and gardens, which our city plan had not intended to do.
• The plan for creation of an urban nature park in the Gazelle Valley was
completed.
• On Tu Bishvat the Jerusalem Green Map was launched - www.greenmap.org.il
•The Sustainable Jerusalem Coalition was invited to present the work of the 60
component environmental groups in the capital at an international conference on
sustainable cities in Cape Town, South Africa.
• More than 50 community gardens and urban nature sites are being tended by
caring community activists.
• The plan to erect a 150-meter tall observation tower on Armon Hanatziv was
toppled once again.
There are certainly still many battles ahead and plenty of hard work to be done,
but I believe we should start the new year resolved to work together to make our
beloved city clean and green.
The writer is head of the Jerusalem Branch of the Society for the Protection of
Nature
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