Mayor Barkat Presents First Master Plan for Jerusalem in 50 Years; Jerusalem
to Become the Greenest City in Israel

Jerusalem, Israel, May 4th 2009 - Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat announced today
the launching of the Master Plan for Jerusalem for the next 20 years. This
is the first municipal plan for the city since 1959. The Mayor adjusted the
plan in accordance with his vision in order to include:

- An emphasis on 'greening' the city and green construction
- Affordable Housing for young people
- Development of eastern Jerusalem
- 5 Metropolitan parks, open areas, and urban nature areas
- Tourist complexes
- Conservation and preservation of historic buildings
- Hi-Tech complexes

Mayor Barkat will present tomorrow (May 5th 2009) his final draft of the
Master Plan to the Ministry of Interior's Jerusalem District Planning and
Construction Committee. The purpose of the plan is to guide the development
of the city for the next few decades. The plan was prepared by a team of
planners, including 25 architects and engineers, during the previous
administrations of Ehud Olmert and Uri Lupolianski. The last master plan
presented to the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee was
submitted in 1959.

Mayor Barkat: "The Master Plan is an important component of a strategic plan
for the city for years to come. Since entering office, we have worked
diligently to adjust the planning that was already in process in order to
reflect our vision to stop the negative migration of residents from the city
and to accelerate economic development in the coming years. Accordingly, the
new plan emphasizes the issues of housing for young people, the development
of eastern Jerusalem, greening Jerusalem, and the expansion of tourism and
employment."

The Mayor congratulated Senior Deputy Mayor Kobi Kahlon, who holds the
portfolio of Planning and Construction and Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur, who
holds the portfolio of the Environment, as well as the City Engineer and
Architect Shlomo Eshkol, for their hard work, which led to the excellent
results that will affect generations of Jerusalemites to come.

Throughout the plan, the Mayor emphasized:

Affordable Housing for Young Residents: In accordance with the Mayor's
vision, the plan provides solutions that will enable young people from all
sectors who live in Jerusalem, as well as students of higher education, to
buy or rent affordable housing so as to make Jerusalem their home. The
intention is that parts of large building projects will be designated as
residential for affordable housing.

Developing Eastern Jerusalem- An additional 13,550 housing units will be
made available for construction for the residents of eastern Jerusalem, with
the goal of 10,000 additional housing units to be available for construction
by 2030 (70% of the total). The major additions will be in the A-Tur
neighborhood (1,500 units), Beit Hanina- Shuafat (2,500 units), Tel Adesa
(2,000 units), Jabel Mukabar (2,500 units), and the eastern Jerusalem city
center (750 units). Apart from housing, there will be a regularization of
infrastructure.

Open Areas- The plan calls for five metropolitan parks surrounding the city
in a green strip that allows for a variety of leisure and recreational
activities, including: extreme sports, picnic areas, a lake, hiking trails,
and others. In addition, forty three kilometers of bicycle trails are
planned for the open areas around the city. The plan defines a hierarchy of
open areas at different levels in the city. The plan defines metropolitan
parks (16,000 dunams), municipal parks (7,000 dunams), quarterly parks
(1,000 dunams), neighborhood parks (1,600 dunams) and neighborhood gardens
(2,300 dunams). This plan provides a wide variety of activity and usage of
open areas for all the different residents of the city, in the residential,
business and recreational areas.

Green Construction - The Jerusalem Municipality will lead the vision of
green construction in Israel. In the plan's provisions there is a provision
for the integration of green construction (solar panels, water recycling
apparatus', green roofs, etc) in public, commercial, industrial, residential
and hotel buildings. The Jerusalem team will work together with additional
bodies in Israel and around the world to advance this important subject.

Conservation and Heritage- The plan affixes the borders of the historical
city to include the neighborhoods and buildings built until 1948. Through
this, the city conserves its cultural and touristic assets. Simultaneously,
a comprehensive survey is being made for the conservation index for the
purpose of updating it and publishing it for the public.

Tourism and Hotel Industries - The plan defines four tourism, culture and
leisure oriented areas that include the Old City, the basin surrounding the
Old City, the City Center, Ein Karem neighborhood, the Armon Hanatziv ridge
and Lifta neighborhood. These areas encourage significant growth of tourism
and require infrastructure accordingly.

Employment and Industry: The plan outlines solutions for one hundred and
fifty thousand jobs in the field of hi-tech, higher education, bio-tech, and
other areas in four new industrial zones. In addition, the plan allows for
expanded use of the Givat Shaul industrial area for technological colleges
and job training centers for the Haredi community.

For more information, contact miller@jerusalem.muni.il
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Stephan Miller
Aide to the Mayor
Office of Mayor Nir Barkat
miller@jerusalem.muni.il
02-629-7720