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Irmela Hennig
Goerlitz. Construction was scheduled to start in spring 2024 at the latest. A new beach promenade was then to be built on the north side of Lake Olbersdorf. Including a jetty over the water - an investment worth millions that the Olbersdorf municipal council decided on in 2020. A large part of the project was to be financed with funding from a federal-state program. But nothing came of it. Instead, in June of this year - by which time the start of construction in spring 2024 had long been history - there was the prospect of money from a different pot. The Lusatian Regional Monitoring Committee in Saxony (RBA) approved the project with a budget of over 2.7 million euros.
The committee is the first to examine ideas to help shape the coal phase-out in Upper Lusatia. The beach promenade on Lake Olbersdorf, a former coal mine, was deemed suitable. However, this and more than 20 other projects approved by the RBA may now have to be reviewed again. This was decided by the voting and advisory committee members in mid-November, probably by a narrow majority. It concerns projects for which no application has yet been submitted to the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB), which makes the final decision. The committee only has access to such projects, according to a spokesperson from the Saxon Regional Development Ministry. This is one of many players in the process and is currently revising the guideline according to which the Coal Regions Investment Act adopted by the federal government in 2020 will be implemented in Saxony.
The Spree bridge in Bautzen and the energy factory in Reichenbach are also open again
The funding prospects for the Olbersdorf beach promenade therefore seem uncertain - once again. This is because Saxony's state directorate had previously rejected a grant from the "Improvement of the Regional Economic Structure" (GRW) pot with reference to the coal money. The Upper Lusatian municipality's project has now been given the green light by the federal government, which also has to give its approval. However, the decisive application to the Sächsische Aufbaubank is still pending.
As things stand, 88 municipal projects, probably including sub-projects, have been submitted there so far, 69 of which have already been approved. They are considered protected. In addition to the promenade, ideas such as the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Spree in Bautzen or an energy factory in Reichenbach near Görlitz with a hydrogen storage facility could run out of funding. According to an overview, no funding applications have yet been submitted to the SAB for 25 projects. Internally, it is assumed that four or five projects will be looked at more closely. However, the criteria according to which the "shaky candidates" are selected must first be formulated. The Saxon Agency for Structural Development, which supports project sponsors, says that it is not yet clear who will be selected. In Olbersdorf, the non-party mayor Andreas Förster has not yet received any official information on the subject. If there are no coal funds, "then the state government should decide to fairly and honestly support our project via the GRW Infra guideline after all," he says in writing.
Northern municipalities prepare project package worth 600 million euros
Hoyerswerda's mayor Torsten Ruban-Zeh has few worries about a second check for his project to develop tourism on Lake Scheibe at a cost of over seven million euros. He believes the project is well positioned in terms of content in the context of structural change. He assumes that the aim is to see whether ideas that have been around for a while have any chance of actually being implemented. With regard to the revision of the guidelines, he would like to see preference given in future to projects by towns and municipalities that are directly affected by the coal phase-out.
Municipalities from the north of the district of Görlitz have joined forces to improve their position in this regard. In future, they want to develop projects together and apply for funding. There is talk of a package worth 600 million euros. The district development company Niederschlesische Oberlausitz (ENO), which is coordinating the cooperation, stated when asked that it was not allowed to comment on amounts. They are at an early stage.
In principle, projects have to be measured against criteria. Depending on how well these are taken into account, points are awarded - the scoring. What this actually looks like is a secret. According to SZ knowledge, zero to ten points are awarded. At least for the projects that were approved in Lusatia in 2021 and 2022, the score values were probably below five on average according to an analysis. However, the highest score hardly seems achievable due to conflicting objectives. However, it is questionable whether a low score is necessarily negative. Initially, the creation of new jobs was an important plus point. However, forecasts have long shown that the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz will not have too few jobs in the future. Rather, there will be a shortage of people to fill them.
Coal Committee has already budgeted significantly more money
In the Zittau Mountains, coal money is to be used to renovate the dilapidated inn on Mount Oybin with its famous castle and monastery ruins and to build a passenger elevator up to the complex. However, the project is one of two that have been postponed, meaning that no application has been submitted to the SAB. Mayor Tobias Steiner is nevertheless confident. He sees the challenge in the planning permission, not in the funding program.
Energie- und Wasserversorgungs AG in Kamenz has also not yet submitted all of the funding applications supported by the RBA to the Aufbaubank. However, as its projects involve securing the drinking water supply, the company does not anticipate any difficulties. Bautzen seems somewhat less relaxed with regard to the Spree bridge. So far, the city has not received any information about a possible re-examination. Should the funding be canceled, "the city would have to bear all of the costs or discontinue the project," writes a spokesperson.
The fact that it is to be reviewed has to do with the fact that the committee is running out of money. The current chairman, Görlitz District Administrator Stephan Meyer, recently hinted at this. The RBA initially had 2.4 billion euros at its disposal. Of this, 1.4 billion euros has now been committed. The Sächsische Aufbaubank has already approved or disbursed 800 million euros of this. This money is gone.
The committee has already "budgeted" significantly more funds than are available for the first of three funding periods. Initially, this seemed advisable because the federal government, as the financier, had initially set strict deadlines for spending money. For this reason, the committee approved funding in advance in order to have a back-up in case a project did not materialize. In the meantime, the federal government has given the local authorities three years more time per funding period. In return, there are repeated calls for projects to be financed with the Lusatia funds that would actually have to be funded by the federal or state governments - the electrification of the Görlitz-Dresden railroad line, for example. The LAB construction research center is also to receive 450 million euros from the coal pot. However, no one has yet admitted that the new audit could be used to try and free up money for this.
Overall, there is little openness with regard to the current procedure. There has been repeated criticism of a lack of transparency in the committee over the past four years. At least there are now supposed to be changes. This is according to Hagen Domaschke, who previously sat on the monitoring committee in an advisory capacity for the "Environment and Nature Conservation" interest group (IG). He informs that in future, projects will be presented to the public before a decision is made. However, the RBA meetings themselves will probably remain secret events.
