The fight over the Haifa Bay goes to the appeal committee in Jerusalem: A stormy and unusually long discussion (11 hours) was held yesterday (Thursday 11/4/19) in the sub-committee for appeals in the Jerusalem Planning Administration. The discussion dealt with the future of Haifa on the subject of the port and airport plans, and was attended by Hani representatives, the members of the committee appointed to examine the appeals, and the petitioners: the Municipality of Haifa, the Israeli Forum for Protecting the Beaches, the organization Mothers and Fathers Save Haifa and the Kiryat, the Green faction in Haifa. Conspicuous by their absence were the office staff for the protection of the environment.
Einat Kalish and Nachshon Tzuk Striving to change the purpose of the Haifa Bay - from a polluted petrochemical bay to a bay facing a clean economy and tourism. They announced the extension of the airport in their mayoral platform and are now urging the Haifa municipality to change the plans that have not yet been approved and to keep their promises to the electorate.
First, a hearing was held on the appeal filed by the Municipality of Haifa, against the plan for the use of the Gulf Port, and regarding the desire to extend the Haifa airport runway from 1600 to 2,400, a runway that will allow the landing of passenger planes used for international commercial flights, something that will transform the Haifa airport and an international airport.
Deputy Mayor Nachshon Tzuk in a face-to-face conversation: "In the committee, we described our meeting between myself and Mayor Einat Kalish Rotem, with the Chinese on the issue of the port, during which we presented them with facts and a solution, and it became clear that they are not aware of the plans and the overlaps between the plans. We do not know what was promised to the Chinese company and Hani is not ready to open the agreements signed with the Chinese Despite our demand to receive them by virtue of the Freedom of Information Law. Hani claims that we are causing damage when in fact we are opposing the planning which is incorrect and it is our right as a local planning committee to oppose and continue the planning process. What Hani signed with the Chinese is your right but apparently they promised the Chinese things and they cannot guarantee to a commercial entity in the name of the planning committee that the planning committee Neither the district nor the local sign agreements. These committees are a planning body."
Nachshon Tzuk adds: "We noted that the plans are not closed, as is the case with Subtal 80 - the expansion of the airport. We gave the opinion that in the extension of 1600 few planes will be able to take off and the field will be a dead field because no standard plane will fly. The extension of the route to 1600 is for safety purposes nothing more. As everyone knows, we are interested in an airport in Haifa with a runway of 2400. In addition, we presented the problem of the collapse of the sea walls in Kiryat Haim and the sands there. Hani has committed in previous agreements within the framework of the Gulf port that it will take care of the beach including walls. There is also talk about the fuel port and they no longer deny that there will be a fuel port. It was a charged and difficult discussion - a serious war. We will wait for the decision."
Ella Neve, representative of the organization Mothers and Fathers Save Haifa and Kiryat: "In the part of the discussion that dealt, among other things, with the risks of HMS and air pollution from the plan, I argued that the lawyer from the Bar Ilan Environmental Regulation Clinic, and Hanna Koperman from the Israeli Coast Guard Forum, who warned against the entry of the condensate industry, argued that the risks of the plan had not been examined, that the separation of the fuel port plan The port utility plan allowed an extraordinary relief in examining the risks of the plan so that they were measured not by the nature of the plan, they claimed that oil would be stored in the Gulf port in a quantity 6 times greater than what was supposed to be stored, because the separation distances that were calculated are simplistic and are not based on the actual quantities of the materials that will pass through the port, from which the risk is derived. Also, there is an ignoring of various scenarios that could happen and were not examined."
Chairman of the Greens of Haifa, city council member Avihu Han: "We the Greens presented the problem of lack of organization and solutions for the entire issue of hazardous materials, the amount of hazardous materials, the types of hazardous materials, organizing for an hazardous materials event. We demanded from the committee not to advance the approval of the Gulf port without complete solutions on this issue. Also to examine solutions needed to promote the park downstream of the Kishon River, which is currently being delayed by the Ports Company and Haifa Municipality, each for a different reason. We demanded that the solutions and approvals of the Gulf Port look at the issue on a broad holistic level while examining the McKinsey report and Rami's Innovation Valley plan. In addition We demanded a risk review for the fuel port in order to examine the issue today and examine the risks in an integrated manner."
