Skip to main content

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.

Related Content

  • Nairobi revives city decongestion plan
    March 18, 2016
    Nairobi is looking to tackle its congestion problems - Shem Oirere writes. Authorities in Kenya’s capital Nairobi have revived plans to convert some of the streets in the city into one way roads to deal with chronic traffic congestion that consumes fuel worth millions of shillings and wastes several manhours in traffic jams. Nairobi County governor Dr Evans Kidero said the plan, which is to take effect by the end of December 2015, will affect Moi Avenue, Koinange Street, Tom Mboya Street, River Road and Kir
  • New Argentina highway construction work
    January 11, 2019
    Construction is underway for Argentina’s new Mendoza-San Juan Highway – Mauro Nogarin reports The rehabilitation and maintenance works of more than 3,300km of routes is now underway in Argentina. This followed on after the takeover of six new road corridors under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, which took place in August 2018. The rehabilitation and maintenance works are being carried out prior to the start of the main projects, which will include the construction of highways. Building these
  • PPRS speaker and MEP Cramer will urge more road maintenance
    February 3, 2015
    The chairman of the European Parliament’s transport committee wants an emphasis on road maintenance and finishing international connecting roads systems than on new grandiose highways. If national government’s fail to do this, as it’s their responsibility, then the European Union’s major cities can look forward to increasing gridlock in the coming decades. Congestion and maintenance are first and foremost the responsibility of member states and nobody wants to change this,” said Michael Cramer, chairm
  • New Argentina highway construction work
    January 11, 2019
    Construction is underway for Argentina’s new Mendoza-San Juan Highway – Mauro Nogarin reports The rehabilitation and maintenance works of more than 3,300km of routes is now underway in Argentina. This followed on after the takeover of six new road corridors under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, which took place in August 2018. The rehabilitation and maintenance works are being carried out prior to the start of the main projects, which will include the construction of highways. Building the