State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman raised serious concerns over the handling of the Tel Aviv metropolitan metro project, citing severe organizational, financial, and logistical failures that could delay completion of the country’s largest-ever infrastructure project and cost the public tens of billions of shekels.
In a special report released Tuesday, Englman said the metro project – the cost of which is set in law at NIS 177 billion – suffers from “grave deficiencies already at this stage,” most notably the absence of a functioning coordinating authority to oversee the initiative.
Englman warned that continued delays and mismanagement could significantly inflate costs, disrupt the lives of millions of residents, and postpone the project’s expected economic benefits for years.
No director for costly Tel Aviv metro project
According to the report, the Metro Authority, established in 2021 to manage the project, employs only five staff members and has been without a permanent director since October, after the official appointed earlier this year resigned just months into the role. “How is it possible,” Englman asked, “that there is no director for the authority responsible for a project costing NIS 177b.?”
The report also identified three immediate financial risks: multibillion-shekel gaps between the approved cost estimate and updated projections; a projected decline in revenues from betterment taxes and other designated funding sources meant to cover half of the project’s cost; and the absence of a government-approved mechanism to bridge tens of billions of shekels in expected cash-flow gaps before those revenues are collected.
In its recommendations, the comptroller urged the Transportation and Finance ministries to immediately complete the institutional framework established under the Metro Law, including fully staffing the Metro Authority, operationalizing the regulatory council, and formalizing contractual arrangements with the government-owned company currently serving as the project’s implementing arm – NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System.
The report further called on the government to finalize a comprehensive financing plan, including decisions on interim state funding, bond issuance, or institutional financing to bridge revenue gaps expected to last decades.
Without such decisions, Englman warned, uncertainty could undermine contractor participation and jeopardize the project’s timeline.
The comptroller also highlighted urgent workforce and capacity shortages. The metro will require up to 16,000 foreign workers and thousands of specialized engineers, yet Israel lacks both sufficient local expertise and tailored regulatory frameworks to license and employ foreign professionals at the necessary scale. Englman recommended creating dedicated visa and licensing tracks, expanding academic incentives for civil engineering studies, and developing housing solutions for foreign workers in dense urban areas.
The metro project – spanning 150 km. of underground track and 109 stations across 24 municipalities – is intended to serve more than three million residents in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is projected to account for roughly one-third of all state infrastructure investment in the coming years and is seen by planners as the only viable long-term solution to the region’s severe traffic congestion.
Previous comptroller reports over the past decade have repeatedly flagged systemic weaknesses in Israel’s ability to execute large transportation projects, including shortages of skilled labor, fragmented authority among government bodies, and chronic delays in coordinating utilities and local governments. While the enactment of the Metro Law in 2021 addressed some regulatory barriers, the current report found that implementation has lagged significantly behind legislative intent.
The consequences of failure, Englman warned, would be profound. Without a functioning metro system, congestion in the Tel Aviv area is expected to worsen dramatically by 2040, with annual economic losses from traffic delays estimated at up to NIS 25b. By contrast, successful completion of the metro could yield tens of billions of shekels in annual economic benefits.
“This is a national project,” said Englman, “requiring exceptional coordination, managerial attention, and immediate corrective action.”
He called on the transportation and finance ministers to closely monitor progress, including through regular discussions at the government’s socioeconomic cabinet, to identify and remove execution and budgetary obstacles before delays become irreversible.