The inability to reach agreement on the future of the National Committee for Planning and Building on Preferred Sites has led to a temporary solution. Because of the furor aroused by the proposed amendment to the law that established the committee, which would have turned it into permanent institution with expanded powers, a draft temporary ordinance extending the work of the committee by one year was published at the end of last week.

The committee’s work is currently governed by the Law for the Advancement of Construction on Preferential Residential Sites, which has the status of a temporary ordinance. It was originally valid for four years, from 2014, but after several extensions it is due to expire at the beginning of August this year.

The government meanwhile has tried to amend the law, in such a way as to expand considerably the committee’s powers, and to make it permanent.

The amendment sparked anger on the part of many entities, among them the Center for Local Government in Israel, the Center for Regional Government, and green organizations. They argued that the committee had failed to fulfil its mission of dealing with the housing crisis, and that it had considerable power that came at the expense of the local and regional committees, and of agricultural and open areas.

Two week ago, the amendment was raised in the ministerial legislation committee in what looked like a further stage in its approval, despite the protests against it. Surprisingly, however, the committee decided that the amendment would not be advanced for the time being, with the aim of allowing the various parties to reach agreement, chiefly the Ministry of the Interior and local and regional government heads.

The objections to the amendment were mainly that the committee had a great deal of power, and could advance plans without the agreement of the relevant local authority. The opponents argued that the housing crisis, which the committee was supposed to solve, was not a planning problem, pointing out that there is currently a planning stock in Israel of 1,200,000 approved housing units that has not been utilized, enough for seventeen years of construction, and that this stock had not brought down housing prices or accelerated construction. They also claimed that the committee had wide and extreme powers, superseding regional and national outline plans, and that its plans created a planning situation without checks and balances.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior apparently realize that agreement on amending the law will not be reached before the law’s validity expires in August, and so in order to prevent a situation in which the committee will be unable to operate, they are now promoting an extension of the law by one year.

The existing law allows the minister of finance and the minister of the interior acting together, and after a recommendation by the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee and with the approval of the Knesset, to extend its validity by two additional periods of one year each. If accepted, the current extension will be until August 8, 2026. The draft was published on Thursday and is open for public comment until June 21.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 8, 2025.

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