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Motorway bridge (in the Eifel): Federal Motorway Company should make administration of the trunk road network more efficient
Photo: Jorg Greuel / Getty Images
The Federal Minister of Transport had big plans for the German autobahn.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer wanted a control center that would reduce bureaucracy and manage the motorway network, which is around 13,000 kilometers long: the Federal Motorway Company, referred to by Scheuer as the "cerebrum".
The CSU politician raved about the "greatest reform in the history of the autobahn".
At the beginning of 2021, responsibility for the construction and operation of federal motorways and federal highways was transferred from the states to the federal government.
He had already founded Autobahn GmbH specifically for this purpose.
But with Scheuer's motorway »cerebrum«, the main problems have so far been major:
The IT systems of the Bundesautobahngesellschaft do not match those of the road administrations of the federal states.
Last year, the Federal Audit Office criticized the merger of the federal and state authority Deges, which was previously responsible for motorway planning, with the new company as "constitutionally questionable".
Scheuer had to call off the planned merger between Deges and the Bundesautobahngesellschaft in early 2021.
It is not known when the Federal Society will start its work.
Almost as much money spent on consultants as originally earmarked for the entire project
What is certain, however, is that the project has already become many times more expensive than planned.
This emerges from reports by the Federal Government to the Budget Committee from November 2020 and June 30, 2021.
The documents are available to SPIEGEL.
Accordingly, Scheuer's ministry calculated last November with costs of 325 million euros for the reorganization of the motorway network.
In December 2016, around an eighth of the amount - around 41 million euros - was estimated in the draft law at the time.
That was calculated far too optimistically, as has since proven.
Because almost as much as originally planned for the project, the Federal Ministry of Transport has now spent on consulting services for the development of the federal motorway company alone, a total of 38.4 million euros.
External input was apparently particularly necessary in 2019.
That year, the ministry paid around 25 million euros to law firms and management consultancies for external support in reorganizing the motorway administration.
According to the report to the budget committee, the 25 million was by far the largest single item for external consultations at Scheuer in 2019. At the time, the Ministry of Transport spent a total of 48.9 million euros on consultants.
"Already a case for a committee of inquiry"
Scheuer is trying "to save the motorway reform with millions of new advisors," says Sven-Christian Kindler, budget spokesman for the Green parliamentary group.
In order for the project to get started at all, the minister “throws tax money around”.
Gesine Lötzsch, deputy group leader of the Left in the Bundestag, also considers the high consulting costs “particularly questionable” in view of the terrific false start.
The Autobahn GmbH is "actually already a case for an investigative committee," Lötsch told SPIEGEL.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transport stressed, however, that the start of the motorway company was successful.
External advice was required for the highly complex reform of the federal trunk road administration, which went deep into the federal system.
The ministry now needs less advice and has continuously reduced needs and expenses for advice and support services.
In the statement for the budget committee, the ministry had already referred to the special circumstances and the uniqueness of the project. The ministry also emphasized that a significant part of these consultancy contracts has now ended.