Scheuer wants to accelerate road construction and digitization

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Faster approval of roads, rails and wind turbines: That is what Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer wants to achieve

The construction or expansion of rails, wind turbines, radio masts and roads should go faster in the future. To this end, the Federal Cabinet has passed a draft law for accelerating investments. "We are accelerating permits, shortening court proceedings, ensuring faster building permits, and purifying the process," said Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer.

According to the plans of the CSU politician, higher administrative courts or administrative courts will be directly responsible for the construction of country roads, port projects or wind turbines in order to save one instance and shorten the time of court proceedings. In addition, judges should be able to be deployed more flexibly and competencies can be bundled so that a lack of staff does not slow down the process.

Environmental assessment instead of plan approval procedure

"We want to electrify and digitize the rails more easily, make platforms barrier-free or erect noise barriers," said Scheuer. In the future, these projects will no longer require approval through a complex plan approval procedure; environmental assessments are to be made easier.

Nationwide important infrastructure projects, for example from the federal traffic route plan or the expansion of mobile telephony, should be able to be built immediately after approval, without objections or complaints delaying the start of construction. The approval process should also be leaner. "That means: After approval by the competent authority, construction can begin immediately. The suspensive effect of contradictions or actions for avoidance does not apply in these cases," explained the ministry. The way of the temporary legal protection in the urgent procedure will remain.

Furthermore, the room compatibility should be checked more quickly. The currently prescribed spatial planning procedure for examining the regional effects of a construction project can be omitted in the future - "if no conflicts are expected," as the ministry announced. All that is then required is the planning approval procedure for granting the building permit.

At the end of January, the Bundestag had passed a similar law to speed up large infrastructure projects. The Bundestag can therefore approve important rail and waterway projects by law.

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier welcomed the further change in planning law as "an important signal for the future for Germany as an investment location". The CDU politician also spoke of a good signal for the energy transition.

The Central Association of German Crafts welcomed the streamlining of legal proceedings. However, he warned that planning and implementation skills should also be strengthened in the relevant offices.

BDI disappointed

The Federation of German Industries (BDI), on the other hand, expressed its disappointment: The grand coalition remains "far" behind its own announcements. The cabinet decision ignores central demands of the economy, for example more consistent action against abusive complaints and years of legal proceedings.

"It does not help to provide billions if the funds cannot be built up. Every delayed bridge renovation, every ailing lock and every delayed rail route damage the industrial location and thus Germany's prosperity," explained the BDI.

caw / dpa-AFX / AFP