The largest infrastructure project in the nation's history, the Gush Dan metro (estimated at 180 billion shekels), is advancing to the next stage by applying lessons from past projects directly within the engineering departments of local authorities. The Ministry of Transport and NTA are promoting the creation of dedicated metro administrations inside 10 municipalities that will function as a direct professional extension of the company.

The Ministry of Transport will fund the effort with a budget of 40 million shekels over five years. NTA chairwoman Yodfat Apek-Erezi led the successful effort to secure the funding from the Finance Ministry.

The move supports the Ministry of Transport's policy of decentralizing authority to local governments, following the Economic Committee's approval to advance metropolitan authorities. The goal is to create a single point of contact within each municipality that coordinates work across engineering, operations, traffic, and oversight units, thereby avoiding the delays that marked light rail construction.

In the first phase, NTA will approach the 10 municipalities expected to see the most significant construction activity in the coming years: Or Yehuda, Bnei Brak, Bat Yam, Givat Shmuel, Givatayim, Holon, Petah Tikva, Kiryat Ono, Rishon LeZion, and Ramat Gan. The company will sign draft agreements with these municipalities and begin recruiting professional staff for the administrations. These units will also serve as a professional liaison with NTA itself, streamlining processes, enhancing expertise, and removing obstacles to the metro project. Recruitment will follow a joint model in which the mayor selects the professionals while NTA retains approval authority.

Alongside this important step, the main remaining obstacle lies with the government regulator. Contrary to common perception, NTA is not the body responsible for removing barriers; that role belongs to the governmental Metro Authority. Yet the authority currently operates with a staff of only three people and has been without a CEO since Uzi Yitzhaki departed six months ago. The Ministry of Transport is in the midst of a search process to appoint a permanent chair for the Metro Authority. Industry observers hope an announcement will come in the coming weeks, allowing the incoming chair to rebuild the authority, recruit staff, and enable the government company to focus on on-site execution.