Publishing date: 26/02/2010
| The special planning and building committee in Katsir-Harish, has recently confirmed the approval of the first part of the plan for Harish, that includes the establishment of 9,000 housing units for Orthodox Jews.
The detailed plan presents the conditions that must be met in order to move forward. It also includes the roads that will connect the city to major roads in the area.
It should be mentioned that the special committee had a session on 3.11.2009 but the protocol of this session was only published recently, more than 3 months after the session was implemented.
The plan was transferred to the agricultural land preservation committee which in turn has approved the plan without any reservations. Thus, this removes the last obstacle for the national planning and building committee to approve the plan.
It should be noted that the special planning committee was created in order to bypass all bureaucratic obstacles, and to speed the establishment of the city with the minimal level of clarity to the public. The special planning committee can withhold information on the progress of the project and only release decisions long after they were made.
ACAP revealed that the plan shows that 2,000 dunams of land that belongs to Arab citizens will become under the jurisdiction of Harish. Approximately 650 dunams of these lands will be for housing purposes and the rest will be open areas.
The plan shows 4 stages for the expansion of Harish:
1- Stage A includes the existing area of Harish which is intended for 9,000 housing unit
2- Stage B includes the expansion of the jurisdictional area of the city towards the south and it will reach the jurisdictional area of Baqa AlGharbya. It will include an additional 7,000 housing units.
3- Stage C includes the expansion towards the north which will make it adjacent to the towns of Um Alkataf, Bartaa and the jurisdictional area of A’arara. It will include 6,000-8,000 housing units in the future, which would add up to a total of 22,000-24,000 housing units.
4- Finally in Stage D the jurisdictional of the city will be adjacent to the jurisdictional area of Kfar Qaraa which will limit its expansion in the future.
ACAP has notified the public committee for Defense of Land and Housing in the Wadi Arra region about the latest development in the matter and has extended a helping hand in the matter in case these towns needed it.
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