Anat Georgi

The franchise of the Israel Oil Refineries (known by its Hebrew acronym Bazan) was extended on Sunday, putting the lid on privatizing the state-owned company.

The Forum for Public Transport and the Ramot Environment Association have appealed to Jerusalem District Court for a restraining order to stop the planned paving of Route 9, extending from the Motza junction on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road to the western neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

Derech Eretz, the concessionaire to build the Trans-Israel Highway is to demand government compensation, as it has not been able to work on the section of the project passing through Tira and Taibeh.

For the first time, the Public Works Department is to contract out the paving of two new roads, based on a recent agreement between Finance Minister Silvan Shalom and Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh. Road 431, a feeder road for the Trans-Israel Highway, will be completed through a private financing initiative (PFI), while the Deshanim Highway (connecting the Route 70 bypass with the Haifa Bay industrial zone) will use the build-operate-transfer (BOT) method.

More passengers are traveling by train in Israel than ever before, according to the director-general of Israel Railways, Amos Uzani. In July 2001, a total 1.4 million people took the train - 20 percent more than in July of last year.

Eli Ron - inventor of the controversial Pal-Kal system used to build the Versailles wedding hall which collapsed in Jerusalem in May - is supervising the building of a new country club in Modi'in. Moreover, according to a report last night on Channel Two TV, part of the building's roof is being built using the Pal-Kal system. While the system has reportedly been improved and strengthened, experts in the field say it is still dangerous.

Despite the decision two months ago by Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh that the more viable route for the new Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway line is the one via Ben-Gurion International Airport and close to Modi'in (option A1), Finance Minster Silvan Shalom and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert have agreed to turn to professional outside advice to reassess the viability of the possible alternatives.

Developers and contractors are making the hiring of laboratories to test soil and buildings conditional on them delivering agreeable findings, according to sources at the labs.

Over the past five years Israel Railways has been transformed from a marginal company that was not satisfactorily providing for the enormous transportation needs of the public into a major-league player in the field of mass transportation, with an ever-growing number of travelers who regularly use its services.

An interministerial committee with members from the Agriculture and National Infrastructure ministries and the Water Commission will draw up recommendations on the price to charge farmers for water, following a meeting yesterday between Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon and National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

An interministerial committee with members from the Agriculture and National Infrastructure ministries and the Water Commission will draw up recommendations on the price to charge farmers for water, following a meeting yesterday between Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon and National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh has offered the director-generalship of Israel Railways to Yossi Shnir, who served as director-general of the Industry and Trade Ministry in the early 1970s.

People should be free to exchange property as many times as they wish without being taxed, said Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky over the weekend as he appointed members of a panel to explore tax issues for the real estate market.

People should be free to exchange property as many times as they wish without being taxed, said Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky over the weekend as he appointed members of a panel to explore tax issues for the real estate market.