The state government of Brandenburg considers the timetable for the construction of a new Tesla factory in the municipality of Grünheide to be ambitious. It is questionable whether Tesla's schedule is 100% sustainable, said Minister of Economic Affairs Jörg Steinbach (SPD). The project itself, however, he considers feasible and important for the region. "To be honest, I do not see any risks in the absolute implementation."
Tesla boss Elon Musk had announced the project surprisingly on Tuesday evening. The planned factory is to be built on an industrial area near Highway 10. According to Steinbach, more than 3,000 jobs are estimated to have been created in the first expansion stage. Tesla plans to begin construction in the first quarter of 2020. The production start is planned for 2021.
"I am very glad that we do not have the overall responsibility there, but Tesla is also his own good luck blacksmith", said the Minister. "You have to submit the documents so fully and in high quality that the fastest possible examination is given."
It will probably be some time before the EU subsidies planned by Brandenburg are approved. "We use the usual procedure from one and a half to two years," said Steinbach. "This is not money we waved and what influenced the decision," he said.
The managing director of the Chamber of Commerce Frankfurt (Oder), Gundolf Schülke, stated that Ostbrandenburg is an "attractive location for settlement, which does not have to hide in international comparison". An industrial enterprise with so much innovative and high value added attracts similar settlements. In addition, Tesla needed service providers in areas such as maintenance, security, heating and sanitary, but also catering, said Schülke.
