Promoter of the Mamilla Shopping Mall, Alfred Akirov, has
announced that he is dropping the project in which he had
invested millions of dollars. He is demanding that the Karta
company compensate him for all of the money he invested in
the project.
This was learned at the end of a deliberation held with the
arbitrator agreed upon by both sides, Justice Sholom Berner.
Representatives of both parties and their attorneys appeared
before the arbitrator. Attorneys Yaakov Dovrobitzer and
Reuven Reuven represented Karta, while Attorney Roni
Klacksband represented Elrov, the company building the Mamilla
mall.
Attorney Klacksband informed the arbitrator that his client,
Alfred Akirov, owner of Elrov, had decided to relinquish the
project because of the tremendous delays that have taken
place. Concomitantly, Akirov demands that the State reimburse
him for all of his investment, estimated at millions of
dollars, by means of the Karta company, the source of the
project's many delays.
Many in the Karta company welcome Akirov's dropping of the
project at this point. One Karta representative told Yated
Ne'eman that the land had been sold to Akirov by the State
at only 20% of its value and that the State Comptroller has
sharply criticized this transaction. This Karta
representative claims that if another promoter agrees to
continue the project in accordance with regional zoning laws,
the State would profit much more than it did in its initial
transaction with Akirov and therefore would not lose by
Akirov's abandonment of the project.
Last week, the High Court reviewed the appeal of MK Avraham
Poraz of Meretz, who demanded that the Prime Minister, who is
also the Finance Minister and the Housing Minister, sign
permits approving the building of the Mamilla mall, in light
of Karta's Board of Directors refusal to do so.
The developer wanted a variance from the Karta company to
include cinemas in the project. The board of Karta refused to
allow this since the zoning does not permit cinemas in that
area. The developer responded with a media campaign accusing
the Karta board of acting from religious motives since many
of them are religious. The board maintains that its motives
are purely business and legal.
