Approval has been given for the construction of a further section of the country’s main gas pipeline, from Kiryat Gat in the northern Negev to Sdom, near the Dead Sea. 144-km long pipeline will cross through Be’er Sheva and Dimona, and will cost $55 million.
Israeli construction firm Solel Boneh Building and Infrastructures and its Italian partner, Ghizzoni SpA, have been awarded the construction contract.
Israel National Gas Co's managing director Dan Vardi said that the decision to give Solel the second contract was based on the need to expedite the project and the satisfaction with the group's work on the project's first stage, between Ashdod and Ashkelon. "This is another step forward in the promotion and development of the natural gas economy," the Minister of National Infrastructures Benjamin Ben-Eliezer is reported to have said in response to the decision. Shifting the country's dependence from coal and oil to natural gas is one of Ben-Eliezer's priorities.
The Ashdod-Ashkelon section of the pipeline is scheduled for completion imminently. The new construction agreement calls for an October, 2007, completion date for the second stage of the pipeline, from Kiryat Gat to Sdom.
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