The Ministries of Transport and Finance of Israel are studying opening the US$6.45 billion Green Line and Purple Line projects of the Tel Aviv light rail system to private investors.

According to the local press, the Ministry of Finance said that the question of how the next lines will be developed is under preliminary discussion, during which all relevant options will be considered. 

The Government is considering the PPP option among others because of the pressure to move up the timetable for the lines and due to the lack of funds in the state budget for their construction.

In December 2006, the Red Line project was awarded under a BOT (build-operate-transfer) tender to a consortium of Africa Israel, Siemens, Egged, a Chinese company, and a Portuguese company. However, the companies did not manage to raise the required funds for the project by 2010. The project was then nationalized and its construction was assigned to the state-owned NTA.

As the project it is having budget overruns and timetable deviations the Government is now considering using a PPP model for the new projects.