Berlin The federal government wants to reorganize the highway administration in order to rehabilitate dilapidated bridges and expand trunk roads more quickly. This emerges from a position paper by the Ministry of Transport, which is the basis for negotiations with the federal states. The paper is available to the Handelsblatt.
Since 2021, the Autobahn GmbH des Bundes has been building and managing the Autobahns and parts of the Bundesstrassen instead of the Länder. In the reform decided by the federal and state governments in 2017, however, it was forgotten to integrate the already existing German unit Fernstrassenplanungs- und bau GmbH (Deges) into the new company. Since then, the federal government has held shares in two companies that plan and build federal trunk roads. “This is not allowed under the Basic Law,” the Federal Court of Auditors attests in a report.
The traffic light coalition wants to abolish “coexistence”, as stated in the coalition agreement. Finally, there is also a major constitutional problem: it is not just the federal government that is involved in Deges. Twelve federal states are also shareholders. For example, Deges has planned roads for the East German states, especially when it comes to building up the East, and has long been doing the same for West German states.
The countries involved in the Deges have reduced their planning capacities for major projects accordingly and are relying on the Deges. With the centralization of the highway administration, this is an “inadmissible mixed administration”, as the Court of Auditors criticized.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Now the federal government wants to take over the Deges. According to the position paper, the Federal Ministry of Transport plans “that the federal government acquire the shares of the states in Deges as a first step”. Deges is then to be “continued as a subsidiary of the federal autobahn GmbH,” as the paper states. In this way, the Deges would remain intact, but would be closely interlinked with the Autobahn company. “The implementation of the aforementioned solution should start immediately,” it said.
Autobahn GmbH needs the expertise of Deges
At least since the complete closure of the Rahmedetalbrücke on the A 45, it has been known that tens of thousands of bridges are dilapidated and need to be rebuilt. The head of the motorway company has promised Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to renovate 400 bridges a year in the future. Currently there are not even 100.
Courage to bridge
400
renovated bridges
per year, the head of the motorway company has promised the Minister of Transport. Currently there are not even 100.
And so the unity of the Autobahngesellschaft and Deges comes into focus again. The Autobahn relies on the expertise of the Deges – and the Deges on orders to keep the employees. The unresolved situation harms society. “The Deges no longer gets people,” said the Federal Ministry of Transport with concern. At Deges it was said: “There is great uncertainty. A lot of good people are leaving.”
The Court of Auditors wanted to avoid an exodus of the already scarce engineers at Deges and had already proposed in May 2017 that the federal government should buy the state shares and merge the company with Autobahn GmbH – and at the same time take over the Deges staff. “This would have ensured that the Deges staff would have been available solely for the administration of the federal motorways.” The government at the time rejected the proposal.
According to information from the Handelsblatt from government circles, Wissing’s ministry is already holding talks with the countries involved in the Deges.
The countries should decide whether they still want to build
There is resistance to the position of the federal government, for example from North Rhine-Westphalia. “Deges does important and valuable work for its shareholders, the federal and state governments, also in the renovation and repair of roads and buildings,” said a spokeswoman for the state transport ministry when asked, adding: “North Rhine-Westphalia does not want this expertise waive it.” It therefore requires “further coordination” with the federal government, “whether and how this will continue to be possible.”
The Federal Ministry of Transport is trying to find a solution to the violation of the law.
(Photo: dpa)
The problem remains the mixed administration, which the federal system does not provide for. However, the federal government wants Deges to continue to process the state projects even after the federal government has taken over. These include federal roads that are in the planning stage, such as the B 6 in Bremen, which will not be completed before 2030. According to the position paper, it is important to the ministry to bundle the tasks in the motorway company, to maintain the competence of the Deges and to find an amicable solution with the federal states.
The Federal Court of Auditors demands that transitional periods must be “as short as possible in order to end the illegal situation as quickly as possible”. Under no circumstances should it be accepted that “the deadline should not end until all country projects have been completed”. The federal government’s new proposal is therefore “not legally permissible”, as a spokesman explained.
>> Read here: New chaos at Autobahn GmbH – now the state-owned company is driving Peugeot
From the point of view of the auditors, the states have to decide: whether Deges will be purely a state or a federal company. “Both alternatives are legally permissible,” the auditors have long since explained, thus outlining the possible solutions: “A legally secure and legally compliant option would be for the states to take all projects back into their own administration.” The federal government could then buy the Deges shares from the states and the two companies merge.
The federal government is involved in both the Autobahn GmbH and the German Unity Fernstrassenplanungs- und bau GmbH.
(Photo: dpa)
Since many countries are no longer able to manage projects, the auditors suggested as an alternative that Autobahn GmbH take over all projects that Deges has been working on for them since January 1, 2021. The Deges would then only have to work on projects of the federal states such as federal roads or country roads administered by them, it was said. Accordingly, the federal government could withdraw from the Deges in order to end the mixed administration.
The initiative of the Federal Ministry envisages the variant in which the federal government buys all the shares. However, the Deges would be curtailed in their independence and would then be a kind of intervention force for difficult projects of the Autobahn GmbH.
More: No common program: The coalition is arguing about climate protection