Palestinian sea resorts, summer cafes and gas station owners are demanding compensation after receiving orders from the Palestinian Authority to relocate, since their land is needed for construction of the Gaza seaport.
On the southern beach of Gaza City, engineers, laborers and bulldozers commenced work on August 1 to construct the Gaza seaport, which is being funded by Holland, France, and the European Investment Bank. Palestinian Authority representatives have given landowners one year to relocate, notes the Palestine Report.
According to Ali Shaath, director of the Ministry of Planning and the Gaza seaport project, owners of the properties will be compensated. But, Shaath adds, the most significant obstacles are those created by Israel in getting the raw materials, cement and rocks into Gaza. Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached agreement to begin construction of the Gaza port last October, but the project launching was delayed several times due to security problems with Israel and internal financial difficulties.
The French BCEOM engineering group and Dutch Water Management are project consultants, working in tandem with the Palestinian Ministry of Transport and Public Works. The Gaza Seaport project will cost $70 million, funded by the governments of France and Holland, in addition to a nearly $23 million loan to the Palestinian Authority from the European Investment Bank. To complete the project, the PA has signed three separate agreements, one with the Dutch government for $22 million, the second with France for $19 million, and the third with other donor countries.
The Gaza Seaport is expected to create jobs for 15,000 unemployed Palestinians, and will ultimately facilitate travel for Palestinians, who are now required to use Israeli seaports. The Seaport will take at least three years to be completed. In the first stage of operation, it will employ 5,000 workers for general trading activities. It is located 25 kilometers from Gaza International Airport and five kilometers from the Karni commercial crossing on the eastern Israeli-Palestinian borders of the Gaza Strip. –(Albawaba-MEBG)
