The plans to improve access to the site were outlined in a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that said it would invest 85 million shekels ($23 million) in the project. "The aim of the plan is to improve access for millions of visitors to the site and also to the archaeological sites, and to upgrade the infrastructure and the transport infrastructure in the area," it said. The 2011-2015 plan follows on from a project first approved in 2004, the results of which led to a "huge growth" in the number of annual visitors to the Western Wall, rising from two million to eight million in 2009, the statement said.