Tel Aviv Real Estate - July 26, 2005

Work may soon begin on the long delayed Carmel tunnel project that would connect the eastern and western access points to Haifa. Work is slated to start in some eight months and would hopefully ease traffic congestion in the city, especially in the Horev and Neve Sha'anan neighborhoods on the Carmel. It will also greatly reduce pollution, noise and accidents as much of the thousands of cars traveling daily over the Carmel or around Haifa to get from one side to the other will, in future, be going in tunnels under the ground. The project is slated to cost almost NIS 1 billion. The length of the roads is about seven kilometers, nearly five kms underground, with a secondary access and entrance point at a halfway stage near Neve Sha'anan.

As per a special report prepared by Business Data Israel (BDI), a large number of local construction companies and businesses in the industry are still having trouble. This comes through as the research revealed that the percentage of companies and businesses in the construction industry that are high credit risks fell during the first half of 2005, to 17 percent, down from 23 percent in the parallel period of 2004. While this may seem an improvement, it is unclear whether this statistic is an indicative of real recovery or whether the lower figures are a result of shutting down of various companies that were in critical condition last year.