Jersualem To Be Ready For 2019 Eurovision By 2028

“We’re confident we can have everything ready for next year in plenty of time for the one in ten years.”

Jerusalem, June 19 – Municipal officials in Israel’s capital boasted today that preparations for next year’s prestigious international song contest have begun, and if Israel in fact decides to hold the event in this city, they predicted, the advance work will be completed as early as ten years from now.

Chiefs of the Planning and Culture Divisions of the Jerusalem Municipality told reporters that with the prospect of next year’s Eurovision contest taking place in their jurisdiction, they have developed plans and contingencies to expedite the activities necessary to make the city ready to host the delegations, media, and support staff associated with the festival, and to organize a suitable venue for the dozens of performances. Such plans, they envision, will have Jerusalem in shape to welcome next year’s entertainers and teams by 2028.

“We’re proud of how much better we’ve become at this kind of preparation and planning,” proclaimed Mayor Nir Barkat. “Before I took office ten years ago, this city wouldn’t have a hope of being ready for such a major event on this kind of timetable. I leave office knowing that I leave behind a municipality with a newfound respect for investing in what matters, and at the right time.”

Officials noted that the rushed preparation timetable includes elements of uncertainty not present in other countries’ hosting of Eurovision. “The contest isn’t supposed to be political, but in this part of the world everything’s political,” explained Planning Division head N. Limmusagh. “That means public pressure on certain countries not to send a delegation to Israel, either because it’s Israel or because they object to having the event take place in Jerusalem, since they think that has some bearing on whether Israel needs recognition for choosing the city as its capital. So we have to contend with the possibility that the event will be either just as big, perhaps bigger, or perhaps smaller than this year’s, and juggling all those variables presents a real planning challenge. But we’re confident we can have everything ready for next year in plenty of time for the one in ten years.”

A representative of the Infrastructure Division added that he and his colleagues are advising the other departments on how to budget and implement a plan the way they managed to get the first light rail line, which promotional brochures in 2002 called for a 2004 inauguration, operational by 2012. “We’re in constant contact with people from the Ministry of Transport,” he declared. “They’ve been an invaluable help in sharing their experience with the high-speed Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv train; we’ve learned immense amounts from them about how to expedite the work, to the point that we now feel capable of duplicating their achievement in having the train line announced for spring 2018 be ready as soon as fall 2020.”

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