WB building regulations raise green concerns

New guidelines giving Civil Administration exclusive rule over pavement of temporary roads in West Bank irk eco groups which warn against environmental damage, pollution

Yael Darel|Published: 05.31.11 , 18:20

New regulations drafted by the Defense Ministry and scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the Judea and Samaria Higher Planning Committee have met fierce environmental opposition; the reason – the regulations grant the Civil Administration exclusive authority to decide on paving temporary roads in the West Bank, without being supervised by environmental organizations.

With no clear regulations anchored in Israeli law, the committee is the sole body responsible for infrastructure planning in the West Bank region.

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The committee has 10 members, including representatives from the environmental field, and its actions are supervised by additional inspectors from green bodies.

In the past, issues such as paving new roads were discussed among all members of the committee, but now the green organizations are concerned that approving the new regulations coupled with limiting the authority of the other committee members might increase the danger of severe environmental damage.

The new regulations were presented to the committee two weeks ago, and were immediately met with fierce criticism from Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, who expressed concern that the committee will green-light the construction of a road leading to the new Palestinian city of Rawabi, leading to environmental pollution of waste and sewage.