Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu yesterday brought up the issue of building a 350 km road and rail network between the city of Elat in the Red Sea and Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast. Netanyahu said that this new line, which will carry passengers and goods, will rival an international trade junction and Suez Canal between Asia and Europe. “It will be a line to carry goods between Asia and Europe. China, India and other rising powers showed great interest in this line, ”said the Israeli Prime Minister, saying the line will be an intercontinental meeting point.
"This project will change Israel from head to toe for the next 50 years," said Netanyahu. Stating that the train journey between Tel Aviv and Elat will decrease to 2 hours, Netanyahu said that the project has national and international strategic importance. Netanyahu added that there will be more detailed discussions on this issue in the future.
CHINESE will do
It is stated in the works carried out by the Israeli Ministry of Transport on the project that the idea of giving the project construction to Chinese public companies comes to the fore. "The professional experience of Chinese companies in such iron and highway construction projects is extremely impressive," said Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz.
It was stated that Katz met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on the project in September 2011 and the two sides agreed to prepare a joint proposal. Speaking to the French news agency AFP, Israeli officials said the country's natural gas in the Mediterranean can be sold directly to India, or even to China, through this line. It is estimated that there are approximately 680 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in the Tamar and Leviathan regions Israel discovered in the Mediterranean.
Moreover, Israel's dependence on the Suez Canal is decreasing with this project and it creates a serious alternative to the channel, which is one of the most important transit points in the world. In 1967, Egypt closed the channel to Israel, and this ban lasted until 1975.
Source: SABAH
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