Negev to become 'aircraft graveyard'?

A new plan to form an aircraft maintenance and disposal facility in southern Israel has been greenlighted by the Israel Land Administration and the Eilot Regional Council. The future compound, which will be built near Ovda, will stretch across 642.5 acres and serve an as aircraft maintenance and disposal facility for Airpark Ltd. The company is expected to store some 500 aircrafts and airplane parts in the facility and perform maintenance on both civilian and military planes from all over the world including scrapping about 25 planes a year. The plan, which encountered objection by various environmental groups, was a few years in deliberations. It was authorized after several revisions, including a demand by the Environmental Protection Ministry to reduce the compound's original size – 914 acres. The Society for Protection of Nature, which voiced the strongest opposition to the plan, said that the ramifications of introducing such large quantities of scrap metal to the ground are unknown and are bound do have an environmental impact on the area. "It is regrettable that instead of choosing to protect and maintain values of the area's nature and environment, (the ILA) decided to turn southern Israel into the world's dumpster," the groups said in a statement. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter