Israel’s ambitious metro project, the country’s largest and most expensive infrastructure plan, is still years away from completion — but it is already facing a massive wave of legal claims. Property owners along the planned routes have filed 247 compensation claims totaling some NIS 5.5 billion ($1.7 billion) for loss of property value, even before construction begins in earnest.
The claims follow the state’s publication of land expropriation orders for parts of the Tel Aviv metropolitan metro system. The project, developed by the government-owned company NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., is expected to cost around NIS 65 billion ($20 billion) and include three underground lines spanning 300 kilometers with 109 stations, connecting 24 cities and towns in central Israel.
According to an internal letter sent by NTA to Israel’s Planning Administration’s compensation committee, the company requested more time to respond to the surge of claims filed under Section 197 of the Planning and Building Law. These claims, filed against two of the five national infrastructure plans that make up the metro system, allege significant financial damage to landowners whose properties are located along or near the metro’s designated routes.
The two plans cited are Tama 103, covering the M3 line from Herzliya Pituach to Bat Yam, and Tama 101/A, for the southern section of the M1 line from Holon Junction to Rehovot and Lod. Together, these plans include roughly 70 kilometers of tunnels and more than 50 underground stations.
Given that claims for just two of the five metro plans already total NIS 5.5 billion, experts estimate that the overall volume of claims could be much higher once all routes are accounted for.
Billions in claims and years of litigation
The compensation process involves two stages. The first allows landowners to file claims for “loss of value” following the reclassification of their land for public use. The second, which comes later, covers compensation for actual expropriation. Most of the current claims fall into the first category, relating to the decline in property value following the metro’s approval.
NTA said in its letter that “most of the claims were filed recently, ahead of the legal deadline to submit property depreciation claims,” adding that the flood of filings “creates an extraordinary workload and severe time pressure” for its legal and appraisal teams. Each claim requires a counter-appraisal report analyzing the project’s impact on property values, as well as input from transportation, engineering, and acoustics experts.
In addition to the metro-related lawsuits, NTA is also handling about 130 similar claims related to Tel Aviv’s light rail network.
Delays and disputes expected
Real estate appraiser Itzik Rafael of the Camille-Treshansky-Rafael firm told Ynet that the size of the claims is not surprising, but warned that the litigation could drag on for more than a decade. “It’s a lengthy process,” he said. “Some landowners might wait 15 years before seeing compensation.”
According to Rafael, some claims stem from direct expropriations of land beneath residential buildings, including the loss of parking spaces or structural restrictions. Others concern indirect damage from prolonged construction: noise, air pollution, blocked access roads, reduced business income, and a drop in property demand.
“These disruptions could have dramatic effects,” he said. “We’re talking about a sharp decline in apartment values, loss of building rights in older properties, and high relocation costs for residents and businesses.”
Kobi Arditi, CEO of RMA Group, which promotes urban renewal projects along the metro routes, said the construction plans are already complicating redevelopment. “In some neighborhoods, the planned expropriations make it almost impossible to advance urban renewal projects,” he said, citing a large residential area in Petah Tikva where the M1 line will pass under dozens of buildings.
State response
NTA said most of the compensation claims were submitted more than three years after the metro plans were approved and were accepted under a special extension granted by the interior minister. “The company will respond to each claim through a formal process,” NTA said, adding that it treats the claims “with the seriousness they deserve, mindful that the payments come from public funds.”
Legal experts say the flood of claims is unlikely to delay construction. Attorney Drorit Witner-Shafir of the law firm Raz Cohen Prashker & Co. said compensation lawsuits do not stop the project itself. “These are financial claims, not injunctions,” she said. “The metro will proceed while courts determine who deserves payment — and how much.”