Due to the delay in the construction of the Humboldt Forum, the costs for the reconstructed Berlin City Palace are rising to 644.2 million euros. The additional requirement is 49.2 million euros, it said on Wednesday at the Humboldt Forum. The new cost forecast can be found in a template of the Federal Ministry of Finance for the Budget Committee of the Bundestag.
The upper cost limit was 595 million euros. "As a result of the continuing disruption in construction processes since 2015, especially in building services, additional costs incurred within the project can no longer be compensated", the statement from which the news agency dpa quotes reads. In fact, 37.7 million more euros are required because the foundation does not have to pay input taxes of 11.5 million euros because of the later opening.
The additional costs are entirely attributable to the federal government. In 2011, the federal and state governments had agreed that Berlin would not participate in additional construction costs. Thus, the Berlin share remains at 32 million euros.
Originally the Humboldt Forum was to be opened this November. Five months ago, the launch was postponed to September 2020. "We are sticking to the goal of September," it said Wednesday at the foundation. The opening should then take place in three stages until the summer of 2021.
In the 40,000-square-meter cultural and exhibition center, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will cover most of the surfaces with its museums, and the state of Berlin and the Humboldt University will also be taking part in the forum with exhibitions.