Rhein-Erft district receives 244 million euros – optimism or disappointment?

Rhein-Erft district receives 244 million euros – optimism or disappointment?

Big changes are coming in the Rhine-Erft region. With the newly presented “North Rhine-Westphalia Plan for Good Infrastructure”, the state government is planning massive investments totaling 31.2 billion euros over the next twelve years. This program, considered the largest of its kind in the history of NRW, aims to strengthen the municipal infrastructure, schools and educational institutions as well as the transport infrastructure. This is reported by ksta.de, among others, which also addresses financial distributions in the region.

The mayor of Elsdorf, Andreas Heller, who belongs to the CDU, welcomes the donation of 10 million euros for a new 1.5 gymnasium, but warns against excessive expectations. He recognizes the need to clear the municipal renovation backlog, but emphasizes that these funds will not be sufficient to finance all the necessary measures. “10 million euros is all well and good, but not enough for a gym alone,” says Heller.

Investments for the region

The Rhein-Erft district will be supported with over 244 million euros over the next few years, including almost 49 million for the district administration. District Administrator Frank Rock describes these funds as an encouraging signal, but is skeptical as to whether the financial resources will actually be sufficient for the registered projects. The distribution of funds is also mentioned in Bergheim and other cities: The city administration there receives almost 28 million euros, but sees the need to reduce bureaucratic hurdles in the allocation of funds.

The distribution of financial subsidies in the Rhein-Erft district is as follows:

Wesseling's mayor Ralph Manzke also expresses criticism of the funds provided and the associated bureaucracy. The city of Bedburg plans to invest the 11.5 million euros in education, fire services and mobility, while in Kerpen the support is perceived as helpful, but is not seen as sufficient to eliminate the structural underfunding.

Prospects and challenges

The plan, which is based on a solid financial basis, is supported by a special federal infrastructure fund worth 21.1 billion euros. But despite these large sums, there are also critical voices. The SPD and FDP warn of possible difficulties in using the funds. The municipal associations are demanding more money and fewer bureaucratic hurdles in order to be able to use the money effectively on site. These demands are particularly important considering that almost 10 billion euros of the investments are earmarked for education and health infrastructure, an area that is particularly suffering from the corona pandemic.

It remains to be seen how individual cities and communities will use the new opportunities. The coming years could show whether city administrations have the necessary skills to use resources efficiently and improve the infrastructure to the satisfaction of citizens. The “North Rhine-Westphalia Plan for Good Infrastructure” could therefore become the decisive key to the future-proof development of the region.

As city governments prepare to apply for and use these funds, it remains important to maintain dialogue with the state government and other stakeholders. The challenges are great, but if everyone pulls together, the Rhine-Erft region may soon be able to look forward to a flourishing and well-developed infrastructure.

For more information, please visit reports from ksta.de, finanzverwaltung.nrw.de and tagesschau.de.