Weiler Convinced Israel Can Build Faster. Better, Cheaper

Jack Weiler of New York, a leading realtor and Jewish communal leader and philanthropist, expressed the conviction here that Israel “can build better, cheaper and faster.” He spoke at the International Building Conference of the Jewish Agency and the Israel Housing Ministry which brings together regularly top Jewish builders from other countries with senior construction and housing officials in Israel.

Weiler also said he was satisfied with the cooperation between the foreign building experts and the Israelis and that he could already see that some of the joint committee’s recommendations were being implemented. Housing Minister Zeev Sharef said that the demand for housing, though slightly easier, was still pressing and that it would be another five years before enough housing units were built to ease the pressure completely. He said his Ministry was concerned mainly with providing housing for slum-dwellers and newly-married couples.

Though Sharef cited advances in building construction based on plans for industrially prefabricated parts. Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir said Israeli builders were not industrializing building techniques fast enough. Max Myodobnik, a South African participant, contended no amount of industrialization of techniques would help as long as getting building licenses remained a long drawn out procedure in Israel. He also urged development of binding master plans for all towns in Israel.

The conference adopted a proposal by the International Technological Committee for Housing to send Israeli building contractors and subcontractors to the US and England to study housing methods there. The idea was readily accepted by the Israeli Contractors Association and Weiler announced that it would soon be implemented, He also reported on the committee’s week-long meetings with Israeli government officials. Weiler and the other committee leaders appeared to agree that Israeli building methods had achieved a great deal but that the country’s resources were too limited to expect it to build at a much more accelerated pace without know-how from abroad.