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The national zoning plan for the southern beach in Eilat has been changed, allowing construction of an 8-storey hotel on the Coral Beach opposite the coral reefs and the Nature Reserve. This has roused the ire of environmental groups and Eilat residents.
Members of the National Council for Construction and Planning completely overrode and contradicted the opinions of all the environmental organisations and the Ministry for Environmental Protection, and changed the national zoning plan for the southern beach in Eilat to allow construction of the hotel.
Guy Ayelon, the Eilat regional director of the Nature Reserves and Parks Authority, said "This decision is not good news, and this is not a holiday for the city of Eilat. We do not understand how the National Council could decide to construct a hotel in such a sensitive area, in contradiction to the national zoning plan and in contradiction to the opinions of all the environmental agencies."
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Ayelon states that there is a real danger of harm to the unique coral reef in front of the intended hotel. The bright lighting of a hotel will definitely harm the reproduction of marine creatures. Because of landscaping, water containing pesticides and fertilisers will seep into the groundwater. The amount of traffic in the area will be destructive. And the infrastructures, that already at present are not able to handle the sewage flowing northward [to the treatment plant].
"Just two months ago there were two sewage leaks from the existing pipes bursting, and any added burden is likely to cause complete collapse and contaminate the sea. In addition, the view from Tzfachot Mountain will be ruined," Ayelon said, adding that the Nature Reserves Authority is presently examining the possibility to appeal the decision that permitted construction of the hotel.
The general director of the environmental organisation ‘Tzalul', Adv. Yariv Avramovich, said, "Any activity in Eilat that endangers the coral reef is an activity that must be forbidden. We are presently after years of a long and difficult environmental struggle and are seeing the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel, and therefore it is important that such a permit undergo additional examination. We are presently studying the decision and the manner in which we will respond to it."
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