Publishing date: 04/08/2011
The Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP) recently revealed a new plan of the Ministry of Transportation to construct a new railway line between the cities of Hadera and Kfar Saba. This plan will involve confiscation of private land of Arab citizens from Taybi, Tira and Jaljolya. As part of its watchdog
initiative, ACAP initiated a meeting with the public committees of these towns to raise their awareness regarding the proposed railway project and work with them to prepare legal objections to this plan, which will confiscate land and severely hinder the future development of the townships. The meeting was held on May 6, 2011 in Taybi in which representatives from the Public Committee for the Defense of Land and Housing, ACAP’s urban planner Enaya Banna-Geries, MK Hanna Swaid, Engineer Yosef Juma (representative from the Planning and Building Committee in Taybe), and Engineer Jalal Mansoor and Dr. Zoher Taybe (representatives from the Public Committee in Taybe) were present.
The meeting was opened by Engineer Yusef Juma from the Taybe. ACAP’s urban planner, Enaya Banna, provided detailed information regarding the proposed plan and its consequences on the towns at stake. She also indicated that the plan would involve confiscation of 315 dunams of private land from citizens of the Taybe. Furthermore, the railway between Hadera and Lod would be 65 kilometers in length, as well as train stations in Taybe and Kalansawi would also require 50-55 dunams of land to build.
Urban planner Geries-Banna showed that this plan involves expansion of a bridge that runs over Road 6, and connects between residential land and agricultural area in Taybe. She stressed that this plan will confiscate from Taybe an additional 315 dunams, to the 465 dunams that were confiscated previously to build Road 6. She warned that this railway plan will be 20 meters larger than the plan for Road 6 on the side of the agricultural area of the town.
There is a need for residents of the affected towns to utilize the railway to develop their economic capacities and industrial areas. True professional planning must incorporate all infrastructures into one line, to include gas lines, electricity lines, Road 6, and the railway line; together these comprise 13% of the developmental area in the Taybe. To conclude, Banna-Geries requested from the residents of the affected towns to submit their objections by May 26, 2011, in three copies, to the National Planning and Building Committee on Infrastructure, as well as the Regional Planning and Building Committees in Haifa and the Center.