The Southern District Planning and Building Committee Plenum approved on Monday the Ministry of Construction and Housing’s draft proposal to establish a new bloc of communities along Route 25, between Dimona and Be’er Sheva.
The initiative follows a government decision from April 2022, which promoted examining the establishment of new communities in the eastern Be’er Sheva metropolitan area. The aim is to strengthen settlement, increase housing supply, and help disperse the population across the country.
The Next Stage
The proposal presented at the meeting was prepared by a planning team and also received support from the Division for Rural Affairs and the Settlement Division. The next step will be a discussion in the National Council, in preparation for a second government resolution that will enable the plan’s implementation.
Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf welcomed the decision: “Strengthening settlement in the Negev is a national objective, combining infrastructure, housing, economic development, and community building.”
The ministry’s Director General, Yehuda Morgenstern, added: “Creating a chain of communities along Route 25 is part of a broader policy to strengthen both the Galilee and the Negev. This will support population dispersal and the development of rural regions.”
Chairman of the Regional Committee, Oded Plus, noted: “This decision gives a boost to settlement in the Negev, made possible by successful cooperation with the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Settlement Division.”
