About:
As part of the project, each municipality chose ten local housing projects to restore, and it also committed to rehabilitate their adjacent public areas.
Photovoltaic panels will be installed on the buildings’ rooftops and the revenues generated from the electricity that will be produced and sold will be reinvested in the building’s maintenance, and in a ten-year social community venture. In addition, energy efficient lighting, shading and automatic irrigation systems will be installed. These smart and economical systems will improve the housing projects and the neighborhood, save on maintenance fees for residents, and create well-kept public areas that are expected to remain so for at least a decade.
Sixteen local authorities were chosen for the project, and each authority will receive up to 7.5 million shekels to implement it.
Budget:
111 million shekels
Benefits:
Old housing projects in Israel were originally planned with the idea that the tenants will tend to their gardens, and designated open private areas were allocated for that purpose. However, these gardens have since been neglected and today there’s no budget to care for them.
The residents in those housing projects will benefit from an attractive, well-kept environment that is expected to remain so for years, as well as vibrant community activities in these open spaces.
Israel will expand its power generation from renewable energy sources – a national goal it has committed to in the Paris Agreement, while also strengthening the disadvantaged population living in peripheral areas.
In addition, it will reduce air pollution and decentralize power generation (costs of transmission, energy security, etc.).
The sequence of well-kept open spaces in central locations throughout the city will improve its general environment, which will positively affect the residents’ and the neighborhood’s quality of life.
Project Phase:
The municipalities were requested to submit their candidacy for participating in the project and to submit 10-year educational and community plans to attract the local tenants to the rehabilitated area. In addition, the authorities have committed to rehabilitate and maintain the public open spaces that are adjacent to the private areas to be rehabilitated.
The following local authorities have been chosen for project funding: Be’er Sheva, Eilat, Netivot, Yeruham, Arad, Lod, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi, Acre, Kiryat Yam, Ofakim, Afula, Dimona, Netanya, Ashkelon and Sderot.