The Court for Administrative Affairs in Jerusalem dismissed the two petitions lodged a year ago against the decision of the Tenders Committee of the Natural Gas Authority in the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources headed by Shuki Stern, Director General of the Natural Gas Authority, in respect of the winner chosen in the tender granting a license for the distribution of natural gas in the south (Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi and Sderot). By virtue of the judgment, the court paved the way for the company that won the tender, Natural Gas South Company, to connect factories and large consumers in the region to natural gas.
The Natural Gas South Company, owned by a group of companies - Hemo Aharon, Elco Installations and Services and Rand, a member of the Amisragas Group, undertook to invest NIS 106 million in the distribution network.
The petitions were lodged by the SuperNG South Company Ltd., whose bid was disqualified by the Tenders Committee, and by D. A. Hashfela Ltd., which came second and was selected as an alternative winner.
Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Dr. Uzi Landau, is expected to grant the winner of the distribution tender a license to build and operate a low-pressure natural gas distribution network in the south for a 25-year period. The distribution network is essential to enable a diverse range of energy consumers (such as factories, hospitals, office blocks and malls) to convert their operations to natural gas, a cheaper and more environmentally friendly source of energy compared with the other fuels used to generate electricity.
The court also instructed each of the plaintiffs to pay the State and the tender winner court expenses totaling NIS 80,000.
The Natural Gas Authority in the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources is expected to shortly publish two more distribution tenders for the "Hadera and the Amakim (Valleys)" and the "Haifa and the Galilee" regions. The license holders for distribution to the Negev (Negev Natural Gas Ltd.) and to the center of the country (SuperNG Ltd.), which received their licenses in previous tenders, are expected to connect the first consumers in these areas to the distribution network in the course of 2012.