A 145,000, 000 pound development budget was today presented to the Israel Parliament. Debate on the document will begin next week.
The income for the capital budget will come mostly from reparations proceeds from Germany, United States grant-in-aid funds, funds which Israel will raise to match American contributions, and the proceeds of the Independence State of Israel Bond issue. It is expected that the German reparations will furnish 54,500,000 pounds.
The largest expenditures envisoned in the document are: 47, 000,000 pounds for agricultural purposes, 13,400, 000 pounds for housing; 12,400,000 pounds for community aid; and 11,500,000 pounds for industrial purposes. A new item in the development budget is 2, 750,000 pounds for materials for fortifications and 4,250,000 pounds for strengthening defense positions in various parts of the country.
For the development of the city of Jerusalem 2,800, 000 pounds is asked, with 120,000 pounds assigned to beautifying the tomb of Theodor Herzl, on Mt. Zion. Nine hundred and twenty thousand pounds is set aside for road construction, 60,000 for port development at Elath and various sums for increasing cattle and sheep herds as well as the acreage devoted to citrus and other crops.
The budget visualizes the establishment of 2,541 farming units in new settlements and 1,148 in old settlements. Some 22,000,000 pounds has been set aside for aiding Arab village agriculture.
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