Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. “Establishment of the new neighborhood will allow us to attract young families to the city, to better respond to the housing demand in the city, and of course to strengthen Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

By Reut Hadar

For the first time since the Six-Day War, 250 new acres were recently attached to the territory of the city of Jerusalem completing a multi-year process enabling the municipality to build a new residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with 2,000 housing units.

In 2009 the Interior Ministry’s Border Committee held its first meeting to discuss the possibility of transferring a 250 acre area adjacent to the Arnona neighborhood from the Yehuda Regional Council and Kibbutz Ramat Rachel’s jurisdiction to that of the Jerusalem municipality.

Mordot Arnona – model by Pirchei Tzafrir Architects

The area was once an agricultural area of ​​Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. The municipality recently received an official letter from the Interior Minister announcing transfer of the demarcated area.

Consequently, the Jerusalem municipality, together with the Housing Ministry and the Israel Lands Authority, are planning to build in this area the Mordot Arnona neighborhood which will include more than 2,000 housing units.

The approval of the residential Mordot Arnona neighborhood and its transfer to the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem municipality enabled government authorities to develop and market the neighborhood.

The program was already approved and enacted by the District Committee and is currently marketing the land – expected to take about a year – prior to issuing the building permits.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that “we are bolstering and expanding Jerusalem. In the 50th year of its reunification, it continues to grow and develop. Establishment of the new neighborhood will allow us to attract young families to the city, to better respond to the housing demand in the city, and of course to strengthen Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

View original Arutz Sheva publication at:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/225410