ira

Olmert urged Aquaria project against advice
When Industry Minister, Olmert promised to expedite the Eilat water park project.
Moshe Lichtman 10 Jan 08 17:38
The Israel Land Administration (ILA) is about to approve the granting to developer Ran Pakar and a group of US investors of 1,300 dunam (325 acres) for the Aquaria water park and golf course project in Eilat without tender and against the advice of professional bodies. The ILA Council is due to meet within a few weeks to discuss the issue. The land located at the head of the Gulf of Eilat along the border with Jordan, includes Israel's top producing date plantation, which will have to be removed.
An investigation by "Globes" has found that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, when he was minister of industry, trade and labor, promised Pakar to promote the project. In quick response to a letter by Pakar, Olmert wrote on January 27, 2005, "I gladly received your letter… I have the impression that hard work has been done and that substantial progress has been made by every measure towards a decision to build the Aquaria project. I place great importance on the project… I promise you that I will do everything I can in order to prevent unnecessary delays in the procedures by the agencies under my authority."


Olmert sent copies of the letter to then Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor director general Ra'anan Dinur (now filling the same position at the Prime Minister's Office), Olmert's personal aide Oved Yehezkel, and then ILA director general Yaakov Efrati. As minister of industry, Olmert was responsible for the ILA. He was apparently unimpressed by the many opinions and assessments submitted in late 2004 against the Aquaria project. He did not even bother to respond to a letter by Investment Promotion Center deputy director Limor Nissan that the Aquaria project was not profitable for either the state or the developers.

In his letter, Pakar called Olmert a "personal friend of many years", and said that the "Aquaria project is in real danger".

The ILA has never handed over such a large high-quality lot of land to a developer without a tender. Nor has it ever handed over without tender the rights to commercial space on such a scale. Such an act is taboo at the ILA; a taboo that is being broken in this case.

If that were not enough, the government will give Aquaria preferential enterprise status, allow it to be marketed to foreign investors, and give the developers a $30 million grant. The extent of the amazement of the support for Aquaria is seen in the fact that at one point, the ILA approved a "snow mountain for skiing" project in Eilat for Pakar.

Although the official Aquaria documents do not mention the word "casino" it is in the background. If the minister of tourism or any other committee facilitates the opening of a casino, it will obviously be in Eilat, and equally obviously it cannot be built without the appearance of an equal tender and competition among developers. In the executive summary for the Aquaria project, Pakar described the foreign investors interested in the project, including Joe Bernstein and the Ralph brothers, as partners "in the establishment of a $500 million Indian casino and amusement park," in the US.

ILA legal counsel Adv. Rachel Zakkai is not listed as an addressee in most of the correspondence between Pakar and the director general of the ILA. Why? Zakkai declined to answer "Globes'" questions on the matter. As for Aquaria's exemption from tender, she said, "As far as I am concerned, in principle, a tender is the better way."

Pakar said in response that he was not a friend of Olmert. "I don’t know Olmert, I am unaware of any letter. It's all a bluff."

Olmert's office said that he acted to expedite bureaucratic procedures, and that this "was a routine PR letter in order to encourage developers and investment in the Israeli economy, and conforms with the Attorney General's guidelines in this matter."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 10, 2008

yuval

ya we'll see about that..i'm sure pretty soon all those stupid green people will start protasting.. this isn't over yet

Livni

Why does a date plantation have to be removed? they can either find some other space or Im sure they build some amusements around it like a rollercoaster or something.

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josh007

Man, thx. a lot for the renders. Does this mean, we might finally see construction start? Please, I only want positive news on this project!

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