The cabinet approved a NIS 400 million, multi-year program to develop sewage infrastructures in non-Jewish towns. The plan was prepared by the sewage administration in the Ministry of National Infrastructures, in coordination with relevant bodies in other government ministries, as well as the treasury and Prime Ministers Office.

According to the program - which will be implemented in Arab, Druze, Circassian and Bedouin localities in the North - the aid will be conditional on the establishment of regional water and sewage corporations. The new corporations will function as independent economic units, and will enable the development of regional as well as local water and sewage infrastructures.

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The plan will be implemented over four years, through 2011. A similar plan will also be presented for aiding Jewish localities with water and sewage problems.

The infrastructures minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said: "Aid to the non-Jewish sector in sewage matters is critical to improve the quality of life and to prevent health and environmental hazards as a result of untreated sewage. Implementing the plan for the Jewish sector is also of similar importance in places where sewage treatment is faulty."

The government is preparing for a "new Middle East," as the ministerial committee for the interior and services yesterday approved a change in national railroad plans. The change will include a new line from near the Yassif junction in the North to the border with Lebanon. The new line will follow the planned route for the northern section of the Trans-Israel Highway - Road No. 6 - from the Nahariya area to the border near Rosh Hanikra.

This will be the future coastal rail route as well as the continuation of the new route stretching from Haifa to the North.

According to the chairman of the ministerial committee, Interior Minister Ronnie Bar-On: "This is another important plan to strengthen the periphery as an area of opportunity for future growth of the State of Israel, and an effort to bring it closer to the center of the country by means of public transportation, according to government policy."

The committee also approved a new road plan for the Haifa region, to anticipate the needs of the population and future developments there. The intention is to move traffic out of built-up urban areas and to increase the accessibility to Haifa, as well as to connect the city with the North and the center of the country.

A similar decision was also taken with respect to the Eilat area road network.