Corona is slowing down construction projects in Munich - the city is withdrawing important clerks to follow up on contacts

Created: 12/14/2021, 07:25 AM

From: Carmen Ick-Dietl

In Munich, many construction projects are on hold because the responsible employee in the construction department has to help with corona contact tracking.

© Sven Hoppe / dpa / symbol image

Numerous employees from different areas are currently helping in the health department with corona contact follow-up.

Important projects are left behind.

Munich - Corona is messing up our lives - and this is especially true for schools in Munich *.

Not only because of quarantine classes and test hustle and bustle, but also because construction projects are now apparently taking longer. 

Munich: Coordinator for school construction must follow corona contacts

The city has withdrawn employees for corona contact follow-up in the health department from all of its presentations.

One of them is an important clerk in the building department for whom there is no substitute.

That could now lead to problems in Munich's school building.

About 750 people are currently involved in contact follow-up at the health department.

Including around 680 employees from all areas of the city administration - according to the internal distribution key - and the fire department, the rest comes from the Free State and the Federal Armed Forces.

The number will be adjusted depending on the pandemic situation.

The central message of the city: fighting pandemics has top priority.

Munich-Giesing: Headmaster writes fire letter to Mayor Reiter

Peter Heinz Rothmann, headmaster of the Asam-Gymnasium (Giesing *) is having this painful experience.

He had received the message "that the clerk responsible for our school had been withdrawn from the building department without replacement and with immediate effect for six months" to follow up on corona contacts, he says.

That is why he has now sent a fire letter to Mayor Dieter Reiter *.

Because: The staffing level in the building department is already thin.

And if the man responsible for the Asam high school now has to work on virus cases instead of school projects, that means the immediate stop of all planned work, some of which have already been promised for 2021 and then postponed to the first quarter of 2022, according to the head of studies .

Asam-Gymnasium: Construction freeze only creates new problems

The Asam high school has been expanded in recent years.

What is missing now is the expansion of the hall roof into the playground area and the outdoor facilities, as well as the dismantling of the old cafeteria and kitchen to create a new teachers 'room and the conversion of the old, too small teachers' room into conference rooms.

The latter has high priority for Rothmann, because there is no space for the administration in the extension.

At the same time, however, the number of students continues to grow.

Almost 1,100 children are already studying at the Giesingen school.

Therefore the Bavarian Ministry of Education promised him another position in the directorate.

Only: what to do with the employees?

For Rothmann, a construction freeze and the associated delay due to the departure of a highly qualified construction department employee to follow up contacts are incomprehensible.

"That only creates problems elsewhere if everything comes to a standstill in such an important position as a result of a quick jolt action." Surely there would also be the option of selecting significantly less qualified staff, says the letter to the mayor .

In addition, the headmaster would like to finally be able to complete his construction site in Giesing.

Corona * already caused enough delay.

"I don't want to wait for Santa never a little day."

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Corona: Munich is withdrawing staff from all areas of the city administration

Against the background of the current pandemic development, the building department - like all other departments in the state capital - currently had to send numerous employees to support the health authorities, it said on request. "We do everything we can to develop constructive solutions as far as possible in order to keep the effects as low as possible." They do not reveal which area the employee is responsible for and whether other construction sites in the school and daycare area are affected .

The departments could have decided for themselves which employees to send, according to the health department.

New employees are constantly being trained for the various complex tasks.

A tender is currently also being sought for further staff so that the municipal employees can go back to their regular activities.

The lockdown ghost in a Bavarian corona hotspot has initially been driven out, not all operators are prepared for the reopening.

Read the Corona Munich news in the ticker here.