Disagreement in Germany over new road funding plans

There is major disagreement in Germany over plans for a new approach to financing road development proposed by the government. The authorities in the states are objecting to the government proposal to open a road fund, which will be responsible for building and maintaining the major routes roads and which would be able to award contracts to private companies. The federal states currently have responsibility for the road-building work with, funding coming from central sources and they do not want to lose inf
February 24, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Significant investment is required for Germany’s Autobahn network so as to upgrade existing routes and add much-needed capacity
There is major disagreement in Germany over plans for a new approach to financing road development proposed by the government. The authorities in the states are objecting to the government proposal to open a road fund, which will be responsible for building and maintaining the major routes roads and which would be able to award contracts to private companies. The federal states currently have responsibility for the road-building work with, funding coming from central sources and they do not want to lose influence. The German Finance Ministry says that road development is underfunded in the country. Some €10 billion is spent on road development/year at present in Germany. For the road programme to be achieved, the annual spending will have to rise to €14 billion by 2018. Germany’s Federal Government does not believe that the states will be able to implement the necessary road-building programmes within the timeframe however. The German Transport Ministry expects goods transport to increase by 40% over the next few years, which is why central planning is necessary.
Finance & Funding

Related Content

  • IDB, iRAP extend Latin America-Caribbean work
    February 25, 2025
    The five-year deal was signed during the Ten Steps to 2030 for Safer Road Infrastructure Side Event at the recent 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety underway in Marrakech, Morrocco.
    Read More
  • Tackling India’s road safety will reduce crash rate
    February 19, 2013
    India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ
    Read More
  • Highway construction to be completed for South East Nigeria
    June 11, 2018
    Further financing will be required to complete construction work for Nigeria’s vital East-West highway project. Work is being carried out on sections of the highway between Warri and Port Harcourt and from Eket to Ikot Akan and Atan Ikpe. The former stretch is being handled by Setraco Nigeria, while the latter is being handled by Reynolds Construction Company. However a further US$277.4 million will be required to fund the work, which involves widening the highway so that it features two lanes in either dir
    Read More
  • ALARM survey wins the argument for UK government backing and more road spending
    February 27, 2015
    A UK-based “Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) Survey” has proved so successful that its backers believe it has started to change government policy and attitudes to the country’s road maintenance plan. ALARM, which is backed by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), has encouraged the UK government to introduce a new long-term 5-year £1 billion road maintenance funding plan and its findings are being openly used by senior members of the Cabinet said Rick Ashton, market development manager at Tota
    Read More

Highlighted Content