Construction of six new private motorways will proceed as planned by Scheuer, despite facing backlash.
In a recent development, Green parliamentary group leader Sven-Christian Kindler has criticised Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer's plans to privatise six more road construction projects through public-private partnerships (PPPs). Kindler, a vocal opponent of PPPs in road construction, claims that these partnerships are not economical for the federal government.
The proposed projects include the A 26 between Hamburg and Rübeke, the A 57 between Krefeld-Oppum in North Rhine-Westphalia and the German-Dutch border, the A 8 between Rosenheim and the German-Austrian border, the A 6 between Weinsberg and Feuchtwangen in Baden-Württemberg, the coastal highway A 20 through Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, and the E 233 between Meppen and Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony. The A 20 and E 233 projects are also part of the planned coastal highway.
Minister Scheuer's plans for these projects involve PPPs, a practice that Kindler proposes should be legally prohibited. He argues that these partnerships shift costs into the future and demands the immediate stop of all PPP projects in road construction.
The political party in Germany that publicly rejects PPPs in road construction projects is generally the Left Party (Die Linke), who emphasise public ownership and oppose privatization in infrastructure. However, the specific stance of other major parties like the CDU, SPD, and FDP on these partnerships under certain conditions is not detailed in the given search results.
The Ministry of Transport states that the PPP variant must be at least potentially as economical as the conventional procurement variant. A preliminary cost-benefit analysis is required for the initiation of a PPP procurement procedure. The final scope of the individual projects can only be determined with foreseeable construction law. The planning sections for the six highway projects are subject to final determination.
Kindler's criticism of the PPP projects is not a new development. He has previously stated that these projects are not economical for the federal government. He claims that Minister Scheuer is pushing through construction projects with PPPs, which he says is a cost-shifting strategy.
As the debate over PPPs in road construction continues, it remains to be seen how Minister Scheuer will respond to Kindler's criticisms and whether the planned projects will proceed as planned.
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