No one has visited the Tel Aviv of the year 2015, but the
first Hebrew city will look something like this: along the
east side will be a row of hotels and to the west, far into
the blue seas, impressive skyscrapers will jut up.
According to plans, artificial islands will spring up off the
coast of Tel Aviv in another few years that could connect via
a series of bridges to form a new city right in the middle of
what is today open water. These islands are expected to become
some of the most prestigious areas of the country and will
have luxury hotels, shopping centers and Manhattan-style
apartment buildings.
An Israeli-Dutch team has been assigned to the project, and in
recent years initial proposals for implementing the idea have
already been finalized. The government, headed by Ariel
Sharon, has hailed the initiative, and is encouraging those
involved in the project "to continue to gather data to create
the planning infrastructure needed to build artificial
islands."
The first island planned will be rectangular with a length of
three kilometers and a width of 800 meters. It is slated for
construction about two kilometers off the coast of Tel Aviv.
Israel's second international airport will be constructed on
the island. According to the plans, the airport will
eventually handle 30 million passengers per year and will
replace Sdeh Dov, Tel Aviv's local airport.
Another island, to be shaped like a drop of water, will be
built off the coast of Bat Yam, and the committee is also
recommending that at least three islands should be built off
of Ga'ash Beach.
The report written by the planning team says, "A preliminary
feasibility study shows that there is an ecological,
technological and legal possibility and financial viability in
terms of property values, in building islands off the coast of
Israel." The project would require a tremendous investment of
billions of dollars and would take at least 15 years to
complete.
The road to implementing the plans is paved with technical
obstacles. Bate, the head of the joint island planning team
says, "It remains uncertain whether we have all of the filling
material needed to build these islands, and we are still just
starting out."
The City of Tel Aviv is skeptical regarding the project. City
Engineer Dani Kaiser maintains that "in the foreseeable future
this does not look realistic." The real reason for creating
new cities in the middle of the sea is the lack of land in the
State of Israel. An analysis of the amount of land available
for residential and commercial buildings in metropolitan Tel
Aviv shows that land reserves will only last for another 25
years, and the forecasts for 2025 are not particularly
encouraging, therefore justifying the project off the coast of
Tel Aviv.
Israel is not the first country in the world to turn to the
sea in order to provide land. In Japan, Miami and Hong Kong
long rows of artificial islands have been built. In practical
terms, building such islands means sinking dry land into the
sea and then wooden piles are supposed to hold the new
creation in place. The problem is in dealing with the risk of
sinking.
What do green organizations have to say? As expected they are
strongly opposed to the initiative. They claim the already
narrow strips of coastline in the State of Israel would be
further reduced as a result of the extensive use of sand to
build the project, but the Committee promises that the
opposite is the case: artificial islands will save the
coastlines, and the Committee will do everything in its power
to find filling materials other than coastal sand, which is
being depleted at an alarming rate.
