Calcalist, Dotan Levy 25.11.20
The Elta plant in Ashdod and the Israel Land Authority (RAMI) are debating between two main alternatives for relocating the plant, to the north of the city or to the south, Calcalist has learned. The parties decided to evacuate the plant from its current location about a year ago, and in any case the new campus will be built in Ashdod, where most of the workers live. Elta is a subsidiary of IAI, specializing in radar construction and mainly engaged in the design and manufacture of electronic products used for intelligence, weapon control and target detection and targeting.
The move to copy Elta is led by Yoav Turgeman, CEO of Elta; Yanki Quint, director of the Government Companies Authority, who is a candidate for the presidency of Rami; and Adiel Shimron, CEO of Rami, who is retiring. The company will be ready in early 2021. At the same time, a professional team has been appointed at Elta to examine the suitability of the alternative sites for the company's unique needs.
One of the alternatives is located north of the port of Ashdod and near the Palmachim base and the areas of the Hevel Yavneh Regional Council. This is the preferred alternative for RMI, but at this point the professional team determined that the main problem is proximity to the safety zone of the missile test unit at Palmachim base. Lines of sight and finding occasional targets that are necessary for Elta activities.
Another alternative that is being examined is in the south of the city, on an area of about 200 dunams, of which about 135 dunams are in the area of Nitzanim Reserve. This alternative is preferred by Elta and less by Rami. The professional committee argued that the area included in the Ashdod area is insufficient, and that the access roads to it are problematic. According to one of the parties involved in the move, each side is pulling in a different direction for its own considerations, but despite the disagreements these are not power struggles that could torpedo the initiative.
The move to relocate the Elta plant in Ashdod was first unveiled in Calcalist in May 2018, and in December 2019 an agreement in principle was signed between RMI and IAI. Elta, for its part, demanded that the copying process not harm its financial situation and obligations.
The Elta complex, in southeast Ashdod, covers 195 dunams. Due to the nature of its activities, there is an impact on open areas of approximately 6,000 dunams outside the company's boundaries, some of which are prohibited under construction and some of which are restricted to construction. It is estimated that with the relocation of the plant to another location, approximately 9,000 dunams will be vacated, of which it will be possible to utilize an area of approximately 5,700 dunams for construction, of which approximately 3,850 dunams are within the jurisdiction of Ashdod. The rest of the area is within the borders of the Yavneh region.
One of the most significant conditions for financing the cost of copying is the scope of building rights that will be obtained in the vacant area. It is estimated that about 60% of the area will need to be expropriated in favor of public buildings, commercial areas, roads and open spaces, so that after the expropriation about 2,280 dunams will remain for residential construction, of which about 1,540 dunams within the Ashdod borders and the rest in the Yavne region.
Regarding the area that will be available for construction, several options have been examined. At this stage, the range examined for construction ranges from 27,000 to 45,000 apartments on the borders of Ashdod and the Yavneh region, significantly higher than the initial estimates that spoke of the construction of up to 27,000 apartments. At the same time, estimates for the total construction cost of the new Elta campus range from NIS 1.8 billion to NIS 3.3 billion.