Future Projects
Recently, the Municipal Council took the decision to establish a national and international exhibition center on a lot of land chosen for this purpose. Palestinian investors have been approached to invest in this project, which will also include a hotel and entertainment center. The feasibility study of the project has been carefully planned and concluded.
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Building Parking Places and Business Centers
Due to the increasing traffic and parking problems in the city, the Municipal Council has decided to construct a parking lot and business center at AL-Manarah main street. The parking lot will accommodate up to 250 cars and will include business offices and shops as well. The proper feasibility study has been conducted and investors have been approached for the possible funding and management of the project. Another parking lot project near Ramallah Secondary Girls School which will have a capacity of 150 cars is underway.
To treat the increasing problem of solid waste in Ramallah, the Municipal Council has contacted the Spanish Government to provide the city with a complete solid waste plant with all its equipment and support vehicles. A contract was signed with a Spanish subcontracting company to implement the project in the city and district villages. The Ministry of local Affairs, along with the municipalities and with the Palestinian Department of Environment are conducting the necessary studies to create a solid waste dump yard. As soon as this phase is completed all the necessary equipment and vehicles will be shipped from Spain.
During the French President's visit to Ramallah earlier this year, a preliminary approval to construct traffic lights in Ramallah and Al-Bireh was granted and President Arafat signed the related bilateral protocol. The municipality recently signed an agreement with a French company to implement the project which will commence shortly.
Contacts were made with the municipality of the French City of Epinier through the non-centralized Palestinian cooperation program to establish a child center and improve the services of the Ramallah library. During his visit to Epinier, the Mayor of Ramallah, Dr. Issa Ziyadeh followed up on this project which will be implemented soon.
Municipality Hall Project and Cultural Center Project
A local design and consulting firm has just completed a study on the redesign and refurbishment of the Municipality Hall. The project was submitted to several parties for financial aid. The Municipality intends to establish a center to cater for cultural and art activities and to follow up on the Annual Ramallah Festival in the coming years.
Additional Floor Project on the Municipality Building
The engineering department at the Municipality has completed a plan for the addition of one floor to the existing Municipality Building, which will solve the problem of space in the municipality.
AI-Manarah and AI-Mughtaribeen Centers Projects
It has become clear that the existing AI-Manarah and AIMughtaribeen squares do not reflect the proper cultural and historical image of the city. A local engineering office has been tasked with producing designs and studies to enhance the centers' infrastructure including covering areas of electricity, water, sewage, communications, pavements, islands, building facades, trading shops, signs, lighting, traffic movements, and traffic lights as well as restoring Ramallah's cultural and historical image.
Recently, Anera has provided funding to find ways to treat the problem of sewage in the city. The study was conducted by Arabtech-Jardaneh consulting offices and their recommendations will be published soon. Based on the recommendations, the municipality will be working on treating the problem of sewage network and the elimination of the sewage treatment plant in the industrial area.
The Industrial area of Ramallah has succeeded in attracting many large Palestinian industrial companies. Ramallah Municipality is working on developing this area and providing it with the required infrastructure and services. As soon as the studies are completed, donor countries and the World Bank will be approached for funding.
The Dutch government through the help of the Ministry of Agriculture has shown interest in partially funding the project of establishing a new chicken slaughter house. The engineering department of the Municipality has been commissioned to prepare a study to relocate the existing slaughter house in the Industrial area of the city, The Municipality will be taking the necessary steps to source out the remaining costs of the project.
Sewage Network Projects in Massioun and Radana areas
The Engineering department of the Municipality has completed the necessary studies for the development of the sewage network in Massioun area.The studies for the Radana area is still underway. The Municipality will be preparing studies for the development of the sewage network for the AI-Teerah/Khillet al Adass as well.
Manholes Project - Ain Munjid Project
The engineering department has completed a study for the Manhole in Ain Munjid and the study was submitted to PECDAR for financing. Due to the high importance of this project, the Municipality has taken the decision to execute this project out of its own budget. A tender will be issued by the Municipality for this purpose.
New roads, Paving existing roads and pavements
The first phase of the road paving plan is being completed and will be followed by the second phase soon. The Municipality will establish a new road to service the areas of Engineers Housing complex and the road leading to Radana.
An analysis study was prepared to estimate the cost of building road pavements and the Municipality decided to execute this project out of its own budget.
Modernization of Municipality Vehicles
The Municipality lacks modern and up to date vehicles to execute its routine work. the Municipality is preparing to modernize its fleet of vehicles and equipment in accordance with the available funds.The Spanish Government will partially fund this project..
Improvement of Ramallah's General Sites
As part of its comprehensive plan to modernize the city of Ramallah and enhance its general appearance, the Municipality will ban al negative appearances and practices such as posting banners on walls and store doors as well as pavement shopping. The Municipality will also improve the city's gardening services, public parks and fulfill the needs of lighting of certain areas. A public awareness program to refrain from littering and maintain cleanliness is currently being prepared.
Tourism and the service sector is being given top priority by the Municipal council due to the fact that Ramallah is considered to be a summer resort and a tourist and cultural attraction. Several projects to promote tourism is currently underway.
As the Madrid Conference took place hopes for peace were promising, people hoped for a settlement for the historic conflict between Israel an the Arab States including Palestinians. Construction work whether residential , commercial or industrial was on the increase. This reached its peak in the year 1994 and 1995. In 1994 the commercial construction tripled as compared to the year before. In 1995 the residential building was 113118 square km which is five times of what was built in the year 1991 or 1992. This increase in construction is attributed to the promising atmosphere of a coming solution for the conflict and thus investors started with housing projects or commercial buildings. There was a substantial number of banks in Jordan which opened branches in Ramallah. Insurance companies followed, and before all there was a good number of Palestinians returnees who settled in Ramallah.
With all these just mentioned factors the Palestinian National Authority opened many Ministries and central offices in Ramallah, in addition to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The fact that Ramallah is centrally located and well known to be an open city attracted many investors to start their investment in Ramallah.
The city of Ramallah is encouraging investors to invest in Ramallah.
T
here are two big projects for hotels with all ancillary facilities and work has
already started and both will be operational by the year 2000. Grand Park hotel is already operational and is
classified as a the only five star hotel in the area.
There are serious discussions with investors for a multipurpose center that will include a business center, a shopping center, a health club, a medium size hotel, a restaurant and a coffee shops as well as fare grounds. It will be the first center of its kind in the West Bank and will reflect positively on the image of the city and its future progress.
The Ramallah Municipality is currently planning for the following projects:
In 1979, and in spirit of the "International Year of the Child", Ramallah Municipality set up a suitable hall within the library's building as a children's activity center, known as Ramallah Children's Center. It remained active till 1982 when it was closed as a result of the general strike of West Bank municipalities in protest against Israeli's oppressive measures. When the library re-opened, the Center's functions were restricted to regular library services for children.
It is very important that this Center resumes its activities since it is the only children center in Ramallah and the neighboring towns,and especially now that the Library has ample space to accommodate it. (The ground floor of the RPL building),
The center occupies the ground floor of the library building,which is located in a beautiful and quiet area close to the city center, making it accessible to all children of Ramallah and the neighboring refugee camps.
The area of the Children's Center is 114 sq. m of which-.-
1. The main hall area is 56 sq. m.
2. Multi- functional hail area is 28 sq.m.
3. Storage & restrooms area is 20 sq.m .
The main hall will be used for reading and lending services, and to house the computer center.
The multi-functional hall will be used for holding workshops and to show children's films.
Main objective
The center aims at fulfilling children's need and to help them express themselves freely through the arts within a free progressive atmosphere
Target Group
Children from 6 to 14 years of age from Ramallah and its environs.
Operating hours
The center will open daily from 10:00 am - 5 p.m. except on Sundays,
Proposed Activities:
Library Activities. Book lending,reading, writing and story-telling.
Showing educational films
Plastic arts.
Music appreciation.
Activities that develop children's environmental awareness and nature appreciation small-scale cleaning campaigns and field trips.
Children's workshops - Clay work, free drawing, painting and calligraphy.
Reading competitions, free writing and expression.
Printing and publishing children's materials and children's production.
Documenting of functions and activities.
Teaching computer skills and the use of Internet.
Cooperating with various local institutions such as Tamer Institution for Community, Education, and The First Ramallah Group.
The Center plans to establish mobile libraries to develop reading habits, and to develop cultural awareness in rural areas and refugee camps.
Members of youth clubs and institutions of the same age group to benefit from the center's activities. A minimal membership fee will be fixed in due time.
The center is expected to serve 10,000 children from Ramallah city and its surroundings.
Ramallah city and surroundings is populated with over 220 thousand inhabitants. Known as being the most cosmopolitan city in Palestine, many Palestinian artists, educators, writers, and musicians opted to live in Ramallah due to its cultural, social openness, and progressive atmosphere.
Ramallah is in a great need for a theatre to be used for musical shows, theatrical events and for everyday practices and preparations.
Before occupation years Ramallah Municipality had built a hall for a community theatre with an area of 700 sq. m. for the purpose of serving the cultural needs of the local inhabitants.
However, due to the hard the circumstances that faced the Municipality over the past thirty years and lack of funds prevented completion of the theater specifically the local confrontations with us.
The completion of an operational theatre would definitely enhance the cultural, artistic, and the socially open atmosphere of our city and speed up its progress and development.
Whereas the theatre will be serving the interest of the cultural movement in our city, thus it will consolidate the movements' growing and effective role in the progress of our society.
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