About "Tama 38" City Plan

In 2005 the Israeli government and the responsible authorities (Ministry of Housing, the National Guard and the Ministry of Interior) decided to give a national priority to strengthen structures foundations in case an earthquake occur in our region and cause the collapse of many buildings, loss of life and property in a catastrophic scale. Due to these horrifying reports the Israeli government put the "Tama38" city plans into effect in May 2005.

The reason for these horrifying predictions and the fear of a devastating earthquake are based on the very location of Israel which is a seismically active zone known as "Great Rift Valley". These earthquakes could endanger the stability of the structure and cause it to collapse. In such a case it is required to strengthen the weak foundations of buildings and allow structures to resist severe shocks.

The standard for constructing earthquake resistant structures has began in late 1978 and its purpose was preserving a static condition in the event of an earthquake which could damage the building at the most, but won't make it collapse and thus avoiding casualties. Therefore, according to new government program, it was decided that the "Tama 38" city plan shall only be applied to buildings that were constructed before 01/01/1980.

Because of the immediate priority of "Tama 38", the Israeli government decided to grant many benefits to the plan carriers, expressed in the provision of tax exemptions: in Capital Gains Tax, sales tax, betterment tax and VAT, expansions such as: the possibility to expand existing apartments to 25 Sq meters, giving building rights on the roof as well as providing additional building rights in buildings that will be strengthened according to specified requirements, with the approval and under the supervision of qualified engineers employed by cities and local authorities for this purpose.

The cost of strengthening buildings against earthquakes is very high and involves among other things, lots of bureaucracy and dealing with an endless sum of documents, under the "Tama 38" city plan the owners of the properties will be permitted to strengthen their building without the need for detailed plans and thus encourage them to renovate and strengthen the structure against earthquakes.

"Tama 38/2" (the combination between rebuilding and "Tama 38" city plan)

Tama 38/2 is a transaction between apartment's owners in an old building and the executing company. In this plan the entire building is demolished and rebuilt. The residents receive temporary housing during the construction of the new building and return later to a new apartment in a new building, modern and upgraded with many technical specifications, modern architecture, with a developed infrastructure and modern environment.