Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich proposed today the construction of a $100 million rail line linking Ashdod to the Egyptian city of Kantara on the Suez Canal after a peace settlement with Egypt. Addressing members of the “Prime Minister’s Israel Bonds Mission,” who arrived from Vienna last night, Ehrlich said he saw the project as one of post-peace cooperation with Egypt. He said it could be completed in 20 months and could provide Egypt with the facilities to handle container ships not presently available at any of the Egyptian ports.
Ehrlich, who has been consistently optimistic about the ups and downs of current negotiations with Egypt, said “peace must be guaranteed by strong economic links.” He urged the Bond Organization to top its record of last year ($331.5 million), pointing out that such key industries as transportation were stymied and retrogressing because of the lack of overseas investments.
He cited communications as another example. Ehrlich noted that if one hundred-add million dollars could be invested in telephone service on a commercial basis, the waiting time for a new phone could be cut from the present four years to two. Tomorrow the Bond leaders will open the first section of the new Jerusalem-Ben Gurion Airport Motorway.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
