Over 250 reservists win subsidized lots in new Arad neighborhood

More than 250 reservists have won a special tender for subsidized land plots in Arad, as part of a new "build your own home" neighborhood in eastern Negev. The process is now moving into the stage of selecting individual lots.

On Friday, more than 70 representatives of the winners attended the first community meeting and toured the site together with Arad Mayor Yair Maayan. The tender was designed to encourage reservists to settle in the city.

The project was advanced with the involvement of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Mayor Maayan and Deputy Mayor Moshe Kuvas. Participants said that alongside the planning and construction steps, a shared community is also taking shape among the winning families, including reservists from both religious and secular backgrounds.

Dubi Halkia, one of the leaders of the reservists' community in the city, said a volunteer group has been established to help the winners with the tender and building stages, as well as with building the future community framework. He said, "This is going to be the most talked-about neighborhood in the south in the coming years. A neighborhood that starts with such a large and high-quality group of religious and secular reservists is like establishing a well-rooted settlement within a few months."