Some 10,000 telephones will be in operation in Tel Aviv by the end of this year, Communications Minister David Zvi Pinkas told a press conference here today. He also revealed that with the arrival of new diesel equipment and the shortening of the rail line between Haifa and Tel Aviv, before the end of the year, the trip between the two cities will take about 80 minutes.
He disclosed that French, Belgian, Swiss and Dutch railway firms have made offers to the government to construct railways and at least two other foreign companies are interested in road construction in Israel. He pointed out that the government would soon have to begin work on a southern port to which an estimated 2,000,000 tons of phosphates will be delivered annually from the Negev. This same project will require the building of a rail spur southward from Beersheba.
The Minister declared that there are seveal reasons for not developing Tel Aviv into a major port, but added that it would be kept as a fishing port while Jaffa will remain as the commercial harbor. The government is also considering the construction of inter-urban rail lines from Tel Aviv to Petach Tikvah and from Tel Aviv to Rehovoth, he said.
Turning to financial measures, he said the government would repay all its financial obligations and arrangements are being made to do so, with the help of American Jewry and by the execution of the new economic policy of increasing production and exports.
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