Lack of funding has delayed plans for a $20 billion project to move Israel Defense Forces headquarters to the south of the country. CCTV America’s Stephanie Freid reports.

This year’s conference on the Israeli military’s huge move to the desert was sparsely attended, due to the funding delays. The government diverted money earmarked for the complex into the Gaza conflict this summer.

Investors, including Lockheed Martin, IBM, and EMC, say each major military operation pushes back the impending move by a half year. The move, which would relocate multiple training bases, tens of thousands of solders, and intelligence mission control, was supposed to be completed by 2015.

Investors and the Israeli government hope the new location will position Israel’s army and their companies at the vanguard of cyber and warfare technology.

The new location will be 44 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and will include a cyber-center that investors eye as a front-runner in the global cyber-intelligence sphere.

“At its highest level dream, what we’re really talking about is trying to make this the cyber center for all of IBM,” CEO of IBM Israel Rich Kaplan said.

The desert move is also intended to boost the local economy by creating 500 civilian jobs.