Israel | The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance exchanged the entrance fee to Gush Dan for the railway to Kiryat Shmona

Raising public transport fares in exchange for expanding the range of passengers eligible for discounted fares was not the only deal struck by the finance and transport ministries, according to Globes.

According to the publication, the Ministry of Finance managed to get the objections of Transport Minister Miri Regev to the introduction of a toll to enter Gush Dan removed.

The corresponding law was approved by the Bennett-Lapid government in 2021, and in 2022 a tender was published for the creation of infrastructure for charging and collecting fees, however, due to Regev’s position, the implementation of the law was suspended, and the introduction of the fee was shifted from 2025 to 2026. At the same time, in the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, revenues from the new tax are indicated only in 2027.

Globes journalist Asaf Zagrizek writes that during behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Ministry of Finance, in order to get Regev’s objections overturned, agreed to finance a project to build the Karmiel-Kiryat Shmona railway line. Regev is actively promoting this project and wants it to be recorded in history in her name, while the Ministry of Finance is against it, considering it economically unfeasible.

As part of the agreement, the Ministry of Finance will support the government’s decision to build a railway to Kiryat Shmona at a cost of NIS 20 billion. Money for the project will not be allocated in 2025, but in the future Regev will be able to rely on this decision to receive it, and in any case, the project will be “her initiative,” even if it ends during the tenure of another minister.