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Ben-Eliezer: Ashdod desalination plant is absolutely critical
By Avi Bar-Eli
Tags: Israel

"Any decision that does not enable the immediate construction of the desalination facility will lead to a one- to two-year delay of the project and bring catastrophe to the water economy," National Infrastructures Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told state water officials this weekend.

Ben-Eliezer was referring to the Ashdod desalination plant, whose fate is in the hands of the Tel Aviv District Court.

"We are not above the law and will do everything in accordance with court orders," he said. "I am aware of the fact that there may have been professional errors, but the significance [of the project] must be explained to the court. We are waging a war against time here."
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Last week Tel Aviv District Court Judge Yehooda Zaft recommended that the National Infrastructures Ministry and Mekorot Water Company agree to a temporary order against the continued construction of the plant by the partnership of Mekorot Yizum and General Electric. The recommendation came after IDE Technologies filed for a temporary order against the partnership, which it claims was created without a tender.

The state is to discuss today its response to the court. Ben-Eliezer has asked his ministry's legal advisers to explain to the court the severity of Israel's water shortage. "I am fighting tooth and nail not to have to face the inhabitants of the State of Israel next year and explain why there's no water," Ben-Eliezer said.

"I am willing to explain that we are after a five-year period of low rainfall, the likes of which have not been seen in the last century and which no one predicted. I am willing to explain that in the past the treasury convinced the entire cabinet to reduce its earlier resolutions regarding the amount of desalinated water the country needs," he said.

"But I am not willing to stand up and explain how, despite all the mistakes and errors of the past, we are facing the possibility that in 2011 there will not be a desalination plant that will provide at least 100 million cubic meters of water."
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