PM Netanyahu Attends Signing of Roof Agreement for Construction and
Development in Be'er Sheva
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon,
Construction minister Yoav Galant and Be'er Sheva Mayor Reuven Danilowitz,
today (Tuesday, 6 October 2015), participated in the signing ceremony for
the NIS 1.5 billion roof agreement to build, develop and market 20,000
residential units. This is the largest roof agreement that has ever been
signed with a local authority and is expected to both strengthen
metropolitan Be'er Sheva as a cyber capital and meet the housing needs –
inter alia – resulting from the IDF's move to the Negev.

In the context of the agreement, approximately 20,000 residential units will
be marketed by 2019. Approximately NIS 1.5 billion will be invested in
infrastructures and public structures in the city. The municipality will
also receive full financing to upgrade its main thoroughfare, Rager
Boulevard. Budgets will also be invested in financing a stadium and
rehabilitating the Old City.

Roof agreements are a "package deal" that local authorities receive from the
government in order to facilitate the construction of schools, daycare
centers, public institutions and infrastructures that will, in turn, aid in
the marketing of residential units, while lifting bureaucratic impediments.
In the framework of the aforesaid agreement, the state is due to provide the
budgetary sources for developing new neighborhoods while the municipality
takes upon itself the development itself. The new roof agreement ensures
that the sources of financing will be at the disposal of the municipality
during the marketing of the land.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said during the signing:

"Mr. Mayor, I am moved whenever I come to Be'er Sheva. I see the momentum of
the development. First of all, we travel on expressways to get here and it
is a pleasure. It reminds me and those of my generation, such as you
Construction Minister, how we would chug along on the roads and now we are
galloping. Unfortunately, I could not arrive by train as I would have liked
but they are speeding along there as well. I welcome the momentum of the
development under your leadership, in the city.

I would like to thank my colleagues, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon for
joining in the effort. He is a man of the north, center and south, and his
help is important, his and that of Construction Minister Yoav Galant, his
deputy Jackie Levy, and of course Adiel Shimron, Avigdor Yitzhaki and Eshel
Hermoni.

This is a great day for Be'er Sheva, the Negev and the State of Israel.

My vision is simple – Be'er Sheva will have 500,000 people within 12 years.
Today we are taking a giant step to fulfill this vision because we are
signing the largest roof agreement in the history of the state. We are going
to market 20,000 residential units. This is an addition of approximately
100,000 people by 2019. The money will not go to state coffers. The money
will go back to infrastructures in Be'er Sheva. The money will go to
upgrading infrastructures on Rager Boulevard and other highways in new
neighborhoods, to a soccer stadium; please invite me. These are great things
that will create a new reality here and which will continue the great
development. This development will, of course, bring new people.

We are doing this in various ways. This vision is being realized along
several avenues. First of all, there is one main avenue that I will return
to again. This is turning Be'er Sheva into a global cyber capital. The
biggest companies in the world in this field are coming to Be'er Sheva from
overseas. I have seen something else – companies in Tel Aviv and Herzliya
are opening offices in Be'er Sheva. This should tell you something.

Cyber is the first thing. The second is rapid transportation routes which
you are seeing. Third, and no less important, is moving the IDF south. There
have been impediments. I would like to thank Prime Minister's Office
director General Eli Groner who has simply done heroic work along with the
other director generals in order to open these impediments. This will bring
very many people. In these 20,000 residential units I want to see many IDF
personnel who will come down to Be'er Sheva. The IDF is moving south, the
State of Israel is moving south, to Be'er Sheva and the Negev.

And of course, there is the major and ramified development being carried out
in this city. I would like you to note what we are doing. We are turning
Be'er Sheva into the vanguard of the development of the State of Israel. We
are moving state's center of gravity to the Negev. This has been talked
about for decades but we are doing it in practice with this multi-track plan
that will meet the employment, business, housing and cultural needs of young
people and new forces. I think that everyone feels the difference in the
air. What we are doing here today is a great thing.

If we add 100,000 residents by 2019-2020, the next goal is an additional
200,000 people by 2027; this is completely realistic. Remember, 500,000
people in Be'er Sheva within 12 years. We will check this; it will happen. I
told people once: Invest in Be'er Sheva. Buy in Be'er Sheva. Buy apartments
in Be'er Sheva. Whoever listened to me gained. Now listen to me as well:
500,000 people in Be'er Sheva is a turning point for the State of Israel and
the Negev. It will jumpstart every city in the Negev. It is simply a
historic change that we are blessed with and it is receiving a great push
today.

I would like to again thank all of my colleagues who really worked
marvelously together here and this will begin to happen very soon.
Congratulations to you, to Be'er Sheva, to the Negev and to the State of
Israel."