It claimed the waste produced by the port was not being disposed of as required.
Work on the expansion of Haifa Port's Carmel port has been delayed. The Ministry of Environment called a halt to the excavation work on the site after it was found that the waste created at the site had been dumped in harbor instead of in the designated site at sea. In a letter to Ports Development CEO Shlomo Breiman, the Ministry of Environmental Protection deputy director general warned that he would be carrying out a review of all the excavation work and waste tipping at this project and at others carried out by Israel Ports Development & Assets Company Ltd.. He also said that he ordered the ministry's sea and beachfront division to investigate the work that had been carried out on the site so far, and would consider whether to allow it to be continued once the inquiry had been completed.
The incident came to light last week, when a Ministry of Environmental Protection inspector noticed that the barge which should have been offloading the excavated soil and waste out at sea was dumping it in the port. The soil and waste is believed to be contaminated which is why Israel Ports was required under the terms of its permit to dispose of it at a site away from the shoreline to avoid polluting the water in the port and local beaches.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the contractor who carried out the excavation work claimed the earth he excavated was clay-like soil and not contaminated. He said he had been merely storing all the earth at one place before moving it to the designated disposal site later on.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 17, 2008
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