Bethel Finances: "Treasury doesn't get it - Israelis won't work in construction"

www.bethelfinance.com

Bethel Finance news:

Danya Cebus CEO Ronen Ginzburg: Few people registered for the company's crane operator's course.

The Treasury doesn’t get it - Israelis don’t want to work in construction," said Danya Cebus Ltd. CEO Ronen Ginzburg, in response to a government plan to reduce the number of foreign construction workers and the Bank of Israel's opposition to granting more work visas for them.

"Danya Cebus is building over 60 large projects simultaneously in Israel, employing thousands of construction workers. We do everything we can to hire Israelis for the construction industry, and we even offer great terms of a training course, but fewer than 20 people register," he added.

As a consequence of the government decision, the shortage of construction workers is worsening and many projects are being delayed. The inevitable result, belying all government declarations to the contrary, is a steady rise in home prices.

In an effort to address the problem, Danya Cebus, Israel's largest contactor and the contracting arm of Lev Leviev-controlled Africa-Israel Investments Ltd., opened a course for crane operators as part of a Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor plan to support the construction industry. The four-month crane operator's course includes 320 hours of classes and 240 hours of practical training at Danya Cebus construction sites.

The course costs NIS 7,330 per trainee, of which the Ministry of Industry is financing 75%. Course graduates will receive a crane operator certificate and a highly paid profession that is in demand. Danya Cebus guaranteed jobs for the graduates, and paid the students NIS 5,000 each to participate - nonetheless, only 16 people registered.