The new fiscal year’s budget for the Jewish National Fund amounts to $18 million, which is $800,000 under last year’s budget, it was announced here today by Yaacov Tsur, chairman of the JNF. Debt repayments will take up a large part of the new budget, he said, so that the operating budget will amount only to $11.3 million.
Mr. Tsur reported that contributions to the Jewish National Fund remained “steady” last year at $7 million, but income from real estate the Fund owns in Israel declined, due to the economic recession here. Planted trees in Israel, he said, now account for half of the total of 800,000 dunams of trees in Israel.
During the new fiscal year, he said, the Fund will give work to 7,000 Israeli unemployed workers, who will be used for afforestation. The basic pay will be provided by the Government, while the JNF will finance transportation, tools, services and the salaries of foremen. The projects, Mr. Tsur said, will be financed by a bond issue of $2,3 million, guaranteed by the Israel Government.
More than $4 million will be spent on reclamation work in 150 settlements. Other projects will include preparation of ground for new settlements, the building of dams in the Negev Desert to halt the loss of rainwater, and the support of border farms settled by Nahal.
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