Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 07:38 AM Jun 2014

Mayday: Berlin's Ill-Fated Airport Faces Insolvency

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/new-berlin-airport-faces-major-funding-difficulties-a-975863.html



After countless delays, technical problems and cost overruns, the German capital's troubled new airport faces another obstacle: It is running out of money. With the current CEO refusing to give detailed plans, it seems likely taxpayers will have to foot the bill.

Mayday: Berlin's Ill-Fated Airport Faces Insolvency
By Christoph Pauly and Andreas Wassermann
June 20, 2014 – 03:40 PM

Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of Berlin's still unfinished new airport, isn't one for transparency. "This isn't a sandbox where everyone can just snoop around," he said in March. In other words, comptrollers looking into his project's finances are decidedly unwelcome, and indeed, when federal auditors from the Bundesrechnungshof, Germany's Federal Court of Auditors, recommended an independent audit, Mehdorn wanted none of it, and the public officials backed down.



~snip~

But the situation cannot continue for much longer. In 2012, Berlin, Brandenburg and the German federal government budgeted an additional €1.2 billion for the completion of the airport. By the end of this year, that money will likely be used up -- primarily to cover existing expenses and to resolve construction debts. But getting the airport up and running -- and certified -- will require much more money, and taxpayers will likely be the ones to supply it.

How much the airport will ultimately end up costing remains Mehdorn's secret, if he even knows himself. In the spring, he mentioned an additional €1.1 billion in a presentation to parliamentarians, which would bring the total cost of Berlin's new airport to €5.5 billion. He didn't say how he arrived at that sum.

The more expensive the project becomes, the less likely it is that it will ever turn a profit. Officials in both Berlin and Brandenburg have thus begun trying to figure out how to limit the project's collateral damage. In Wowereit's city-state government in Berlin, one proposal under consideration involves removing the airport from the Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH consortium, which also runs Tegel and Schönefeld airports, and placing the project's bank debts of €2.4 billion in a separate state-owned company.
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Foreign Affairs»Mayday: Berlin's Ill-Fate...