NTA sees further delay in Metro launch

The NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System is expected to be three years behind, failing to publish bids for the tunnel’s construction on time, according to internal NTA documents seen by Globes.

The Metro Network includes a 300-kilometer tunnel under 24 municipalities in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The planned lines run in north to south, east to west, and semicircles.

Statutory regulations for all lines have already been approved by the government, as well as the Tama 70 plan, to regulate the real estate market around the station and take advantage of the potential for a significant increase in building rights. This is part of Metro Network’s funding and costs an estimated NIS of 15-200 billion. Half of the funding comes from the Ministry of Finance, with half coming through land improvements, taxation and increased value.

It’s the second postponement, and probably not the last one

The construction of the subway will take place in two parts. The first parts that were supposed to be completed between 2034 and 2037 include 78km, 59 stations and three train depots.

Unlike the work of Tel Avi Bright Rail, which is built on a line by line, Metroplan aims to build and gradually expand small networks until a complete network is introduced. Therefore, all three lines of excavation work begins at the same time.

To this end, the NTA presented the schedule to the contractor about six months ago. This is due to be made public for construction bids in 2026, and by the end of 2027, actual work has been in full swing in a year. However, the NTA does not meet these schedules – the date on which the bid is published will be moved – the opening date will also be reverted.

The delays on the project, which is due to be open over nine years, sound very noticeable, as Metro is already set to begin operations in a few years. However, the meaning is broader. Work on the ground has not yet begun, and the project already has a second delay.

When the project was first launched, the government ambitiously estimated that it would begin operation as early as 2030-2034. This will then be returned to 2034-2037 and then returned again. Previous experience with projects in Israel has shown that while there will be considerable delays before construction begins, many delays will occur after work begins.

Work on building the Tel Avi Bright Rail green and purple lines has already been postponed until the end of the decade after construction began. So this is the second postponement of the Metro, but rarely the last.

The NTA is adopting a new strategy

The latest postponements are also related to supplementary projects that rely on the pace of excavation, such as removing dirt, building replacement stations, acoustic protection of apartments, producing concrete, and hiring foreign workers. All of these issues are added to the taxation levies imposed on local governments and property owners near the subway department. That taxation is related to improving real estate and urban life, but these have also been postponed.

NTR is attributing the postponement to geopolitical circumstances and the limited ability of the country to currently compete for huge bids by attracting foreign companies.

While there is logic behind these claims, for many years, government ministries have warned that the NTA is still at a pace in organizing the project, and it was clear that the project would be postponed again with the appointment of the company’s new CEO Itamar Ben-Meir.

As “Globes” already reported, detailed planning and release of the bid for the line was delayed as the NTA failed to plan sufficient exits to the metro stations in response to the National Planning Commission’s request. Companies in the industry are already concerned because preliminary stages of bidding, such as the preliminary stages that are usually first published and constitute a key barometer of interest in the market for the project, have not yet been published.

The NTA has adopted a new strategy in which managers and employees have a schedule related to the three-year plan and is related to the project’s target date, based on the assumption that dates set for the year do not lead to accelerated work, while shorter and more focused plans.

Deferral of a bid means a departure from plans for the next few years, as directed by the government to the NTA. Even on complex, large projects like the metro, companies in the infrastructure industry need certainty, especially during periods of geopolitical instability.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – May 26, 2025.

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