The Herzliya municipality will soon publish an international tender to examine whether the construction of artificial islands along Israel's coastline is feasible. Two possibilities will be examined: the construction of one island intended for housing and another intended to accommodate an airport for domestic flights. Japanese delegations, visiting Israel last month, declared that this project was feasible. Mike Seka, the engineer for the city of Herzliya specified to the "Globes" newspaper that the first island could be built three kilometers from the shore and the other, between Herzliya marina and the Apollonia site. He added that 40,000 housing units, hotels and a stadium will be built on one of the islands, while an airport for domestic and commercial flights will be built on the other. "There is no other alternative than the construction of artificial islands," explained Mr. Seka. "We need an airport and other residential units and there is not enough space for this on the mainland." The engineer estimated the cost of construction of the two islands at 4 billion shekels, with Herzliya municipality having already invested 650,000 shekels in planning and feasibility tests for the sites. It should be noted that Tel-Aviv is also considering developing islands to the west of its territory.
A story to follow.
