Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir yesterday criticized plans to establish a 250,000-inhabitant new development town at Modiin, the ancient site of the Maccabeans located just east of here. Speaking at the new immigrant township of Carmel in the Galilee, Sapir said existing new immigrant towns can absorb another 100,000 people and there is no need to have another township near Tel Aviv, an area which is already overpopulated.
Sapir said a new township of Modiin would be very expensive to set up and would, in addition, hamper the development of immigrant towns already organized. Less than half of the existing 33 immigrant towns have populations of 10,000 people, the minimum number of inhabitants considered necessary for a rational use of services, Sapir said. The Modiin plan was recently revived because many immigrants have skills which can best be put to use in the dense industrial zone around Tel Aviv. Living quarters in this city and other nearby areas are forbiddingly expensive.
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