Inflated prices? Caravan intended for evacuees
צילום: גיל נחושתן
Settler families to get nearly 500K each
Disengagement Office, Finance Ministry officials disagree over extent of compensation to be given to settler families slated for evacuation; Housing Ministry official says companies building settler caravans take advantage of situation to inflate prices
Settler families slated for evacuation in the framework of the disengagement plan are set to receive an average of NIS 2 million (about USD 480,000) apiece as compensation, a Finance Ministry representative said Tuesday during a meeting of senior government officials on the planned pullout.
Disengagement Office Head Yonatan Bassi disagreed, claiming the average compensation package would be NIS 800,000 (about USD 190,000).
He also reported a rise in the number of settlers willing to evacuate independently in exchange for the compensation package.
The implementation of the disengagement plan is costing the country NIS 7 billion (about USD 1.6 billion), including security and infrastructure-related expenses, said Harel Belinda of the Finance Ministry budget department.
Progress in caravan construction
He also expressed his concern over the NIS 500,000 (about USD 190,000) a unit cost of the mobile homes (known as "caravans" in Israel) being constructed to accommodate the evacuated settlers. He said companies building the units took advantage of the situation to raise prices in an unreasonable way.
A source involved in the caravan construction project told Ynet that foreign companies should have been permitted to compete in a bid for the caravan project.
“This would prevent Israeli companies from increasing prices in this way,” he said.
Housing Ministry Director-General Shmuel Abuav reported progress in construction being done in areas that are set to accommodate the evacuees, such as Nitzan and Mavkiim.
Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Ilan Cohen said the government is doing more than what is demanded of it according to the evacuation-compensation law to answer settlers' needs, despite settler criticism.
