Last update - 00:00 19/08/2007
Gov't okays creation of body to run Lake Kinneret's management
By Eli Ashkenazi and Motti Bassok, Haaretz Correspondent
The government approved on Sunday the establishment of a group that will oversee the management of Lake Kinneret and its beaches.
The organization will act as a coordinating body and will deal with planning, building, tourism, water quality, environmental protection and public health.
There are currently 19 different bodies dealing with the lake, among them government ministries and local authorities. The new group will absorb the functions of all of them, and will have jurisdiction over the area between the lake's shores and the road encircling it.
Among the body's tasks will be to develop Lake Kinneret, regulate entrance fees to beaches, maintain beaches, guarantee free access to the shore, promote the Kinneret hiking trail, inspect fishing activity and oversee construction in the area.
Representatives from several government ministries, local authorities and public interest groups will comprise the body's membership. Its budget will be roughly NIS ten million.
The government decision said that the "dispersal of supervisory authority over what happens on many beaches has brought about severe functional failures. The failures manifest themselves in environmental damage to the water quality in the Kinneret and the comfort of the public that comes to vacation on the lake's beaches."
"The multiplicity of regulating factors makes it difficult to manage the area, develop it economically and operate and protect the beaches," the decision continued.
Nir Papai of the Society for the Protection of Nature said his organization welcomes the move, but said the budget would not suffice. "This is an additional step on the way to freeing the Kinneret," he said.
"However, the budget is lacking. Without an appropriate budget, the authority will have a hard time delivering. The necessary amount is 15 million shekels, and that does not include the budget necessary for the Kinneret Trail," he added.