Jerusalem to receive NIS 405 m. development grant

Finance Ministry funding is earmarked for education, street cleaning and repairing damage caused by December storm

By Gavriel Fiske

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31 January 2014, 12:28 am

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Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel

Arial view of downtown Jerusalem in 2013. (photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Jerusalem is to receive a government grant package from the Finance Ministry to the tune of NIS 405 million ($166 million), it was announced on Thursday. The funds are intended to “advance and develop the capital,” the ministry said in a press release.

The money includes a NIS 260 million ($74.5 million) general grant to the city, NIS 60 million ($17 million) earmarked for the educational system, NIS 20 million ($5.7 million) for public sanitation and cleaning and NIS 25 million ($7.16 million) for roads and maintenance.

In addition, NIS 40 million ($11.5 million) is to go to the repair of damage suffered during December’s heavy winter storm and snowfall. The ministry said the damage to schools would be repaired with funding under the purview of the Ministry of Education.

Nationwide, the damage caused by December’s early winter storm was assessed at over NIS 120 million ($34 million), according to Israel Radio. Jerusalem in particular suffered the brunt of the blizzard.

The grant package is in addition to a separate government plan to develop Jerusalem’s public transportation infrastructure, the release noted.