More time for funding applications for reconstruction in the flood area

Created: 2022-11-29Updated: 2022-11-29, 6:17 p.m

An excavator leveled a house on the Ahr in the Altenburg district that was destroyed by the flood.

© Boris Roessler/dpa/archive image

Too few appraisers and craftsmen: The construction of new houses, day care centers and bridges in the Ahr disaster area is dragging on.

Now there is positive news for flood victims.

Mainz - After a long tug of war, Berlin and Mainz have agreed on a much more generous deadline for funding applications for reconstruction in the flood-damaged Ahr Valley.

According to the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), on Tuesday, the Federal Chancellery has promised to extend the application period by three years until June 30, 2026.

"This is very good news for the citizens, municipalities and companies in Rhineland-Palatinate who were affected by the floods," emphasized Dreyer.

"We worked very hard for this extension of the deadline - and our arguments were heard in Berlin." At least 134 people died in the Ahr Valley in the flood disaster in July 2021 and thousands of houses were destroyed.

Until now, all municipal and private applications for the multi-billion federal and state reconstruction fund had to be submitted by June 30, 2023.

Ahrweiler district administrator Cornelia Weigand (independent) had considered this impossible in view of the almost 2800 municipal applications alone for destroyed roads, bridges, daycare centers, schools, sports fields and sewage treatment plants.

The Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of the Interior Michael Ebling (SPD) explained: "The municipalities alone are building infrastructure here that would normally be built in decades." He added: "The extension of the deadline gives the municipal go-getters a lot of support."

Prime Minister Dreyer emphasized with regard to flood victims that they would have to accept delays in reconstruction due to the search for replacement land and the lack of the necessary experts, craftsmen and building materials, for which they could not do anything.

The FDP member of the Bundestag Sandra Weeser said: "There are still a lot of destroyed buildings and infrastructure on site and the suffering of the people is still great, but now we can at least have time and security for the provision and use of the funds for guarantee the reconstruction.”

Prime Minister Dreyer and Interior Minister Ebling wanted to visit the Ahr Valley again this Wednesday to take stock of the reconstruction there.

Discussions were planned with mayors and district administrator Weigand about how to proceed in the long flooded area.

dpa