The Israel’s Cabinet is set to approve next week a $31.8 million budget to strengthen the eastern Negev cities of Arad, Dimona, Yeruham and Mitzpe Ramon, the Prime Minister’s Office and Finance Ministry announced in a joint statement on Thursday.
The decision is to be green-lit in a special session in Dimona on Dec. 14, as part of a national plan to encourage demographic growth and sustainable economic development in Israel’s south, the statement read.
The budget planned for 2026 involves investment in infrastructure, personal security, environment, transportation, innovation and energy.
Plans for the airport in Mitzpe Ramon are advancing, alongside initiatives to establish an innovation hub for advanced energy technologies while strengthening R&D projects for unmanned aerial vehicles in Yeruham, according to the statement.
“In recent months, my government has advanced unprecedented national plans for Negev communities: government decisions for the ‘envelope of the envelope’ communities totaling 3.2 billion shekels [around $1 billion],” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
He said the plans are transforming Beersheva into a “metropolitan center,” approving thousands of new housing units alongside the further strengthening of Dimona “as a leading city in the Negev’s development.”
The added budget projected for approval “is a significant and essential step toward completing the vision and national policy of developing the Negev and attracting population to the south,” Netanyahu said.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich congratulated those in the ministries who helped advance the budget, saying that the Negev’s development “is a central national interest of the State of Israel. … This is practical Zionism, bringing real opportunities, quality employment and a high quality of life to the periphery.”
