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On January 1, the federal government takes over the management of the states’ highways. There is already criticism for costs, IT problems and staff shortages, and from Transport Minister Scheuer.
By Martin Bohne, ARD capital studio
Autobahn GmbH is the result of the federal reform of 2017. The highways belong to the federal government, which also provides them with the money. But the federal states were responsible for operation, maintenance, and expansion. That is changing now.
“We do everything from a single source”
A sensible reform, finds, unsurprisingly, the managing director of the new state-owned GmbH, Stephan Krenz. Point out two main benefits of innovation. “First, we do everything from a single source, especially innovation and traffic management. And second: we are becoming significantly more efficient,” says Krenz. “We want to be faster.”
By pooling itself in federal hands, Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer also expects more speed in the planning process, which often takes years. Building electronic charging stations or making adjustments for autonomous driving can be done much better centrally, and costs can also be lowered by bundling purchasing.
Predictable initial difficulties
FDP parliamentary group transport expert Oliver Luksic also expects longer-term improvements through the new federal company. But the transition was poorly managed. So the start could be bumpy.
“On the one hand, we have problems with the transfer of personnel and also with the merging of IT systems. In my opinion, they can be solved,” says Luksic. “But there is also a funding gap, mainly due to rising administrative costs.”
Not all positions have been filled yet
Autobahn-GmbH CEO Krenz refers to the enormous challenge of building a new company with 13,000 employees from previous state institutions in just two years. The new IT structure is not yet fully resilient and the target number of employees has not yet been fully reached. But you are still ready to go.
“We just went through the final checklist again, so to speak: our 189 highway maintenance depots, 16 telecom maintenance depots, 42 control centers in Germany, more than 5000 planning and construction projects that are handover to us. We go through all of this again in great detail, “says Krenz. “By human judgment and all that we see, we are ready to go.”
Critical cost
The criticism is mainly based on costs. For the establishment of the GmbH alone, more than 300 million euros were owed, significantly more than planned. Now it is getting much more expensive: in the federal budget for 2021, 1.8 billion euros are planned for Autobahn GmbH. Of course, this includes costs previously incurred by federal state authorities.
However, the taxpayers association warns of economic damage that could even overshadow the auto toll debacle to no avail. High office rents, huge costs for external consultants and excessive salaries of senior officials are criticized.
Managing Director Krenz sees no waste. “When it comes to managers’ salaries, all without exception are within the framework of a concept,” he says. That is comparable to other federal companies. Office, consultant, and information technology rental costs are also comparable to other companies.
Ministry keeps test report under lock and key
However, even the main Federal Ministry of Transport was forced to hire external auditors to investigate possible excessive wages. The report is ready, but the cleaning ministry refuses to publish it. Even the Transport Committee of the Bundestag does not see it to this day.
This bothers the FDP MP Luksic very much. “We are asking for more transparency here, as we do with the breakdown of administrative costs,” he says. In this case, as in the case of the toll, the ministry does not trust transparency. “That, of course, makes us very suspicious,” says the FDP politician.
Financing at the expense of road construction?
Luksic also fears that even next year’s 1.8 billion euros will not be enough for Autobahn GmbH. It should be noted in the budget that the increase in administrative costs should be financed from the highway construction budget.
“That is where I see the central problem. That is why I am afraid that in the medium-term financial planning, many, many necessary renovations of roads and bridges will not be carried out as planned,” says Luksic.
“Planerisches Chaos”
That would be catastrophic in view of the deteriorating highway infrastructure. It would also be a problem for the German construction industry, according to IG Bau president Robert Feiger. It points to the danger “that important investments are delayed or even prolonged.” Because state investments in road construction are of fundamental importance to the construction industry, especially in times of the crown.
The IG-Bau chief’s verdict on one of the biggest transport policy projects in recent years is not exactly flattering to the responsible minister. Costs have skyrocketed, “and planning chaos seems to prevail similar to highway tolls,” Feiger says.
At first, drivers will hardly notice a change.
In practice, drivers will hardly notice the shift in responsibilities in highway management. At some point, however, it remains to be seen whether the gigantic new society can actually contribute to reducing traffic jams, improving safer roads and bridges, or not.
