A master plan for the development of industry, power stations and transportation in the Negev has been submitted to the Knesset by a voluntary group headed by Yosef Tekoah, Ben Gurion University president and former Ambassador to the UN, and Eli Moyal, Deputy Minister of Communications. The plan, the target date for which is the year 2000, is aimed at increasing the population of the Negev by improving services and increasing agricultural and industrial productivity.
The promoters of the project noted that while the Negev, Israel’s southern region, contains 60 percent of Israel’s land area, its growth and development has lagged behind the rest of the country. Their program includes:
Construction of a cross-desert pipeline to carry sea water from the Mediterranean to power stations in the Dead Sea region; a 300,000-acre industrial zone in the northern Negev; industrial and desalination plants; an international airport at Beersheba; a railroad from Eilat to the Mediterranean to facilitate the movement of freight for transshipment; construction of a major seaport at Yamit south of the Gaza Strip; and the expansion of Ben Gurion University at Beersheba as the focal point for applied research in the Negev and a source of professional manpower for the region’s development.
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