Israel is densely populated with a high rate of land use. The housing crisis exasperates the high demand for land, while in recent years, army bases and Israel Military Industry (IMI) factories are being evacuated from numerous locations in different parts of the country. 

These sites can constitute a substantial land supply for new construction. However, due to the nature of previous activities undertaken on such sites, various contaminants have penetrated the soil, posing potential health risks to the public and the environment. The evacuation of these sites provides us with a rare opportunity to clean up past hazards, prepare the land for marketing and provide ample construction for housing, as well preventing exasperation of the pollution of the environment and groundwater.

In October 2015, Israel’s Housing Cabinet decided that the governmental Environmental Services Company Ltd. (ESC), in coordination with Israel Land Authority (ILA) and the Government Companies Authority, will serve as the executive body for the remediation of evacuated sites. The project aims to qualify land to a degree that would pose no risk to the environment and its future residents; and to do so in a prompt yet safe manner and at reasonable costs. According to various estimates, by the end of the remediation process, evacuated areas and additional sites at the core of high-demand regions are expected to comprise some 100 thousand housing units.