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Deception and Concealment: The True Face of the Structural Change Millions!On June 26, 2024, critics of the IKIG (Intermunicipal Industrial Area) demonstrated in front of the town hall in Lützen. The citizens’ initiative (BI) and the nature conservation organizations Nabu, NaturFreund, and BUND had a small success to report: After an hour of discussions, the decision for the city of Lützen to join the special-purpose association for the development of the IKIG was removed from the agenda of the city council meeting by the mayor of Lützen, Mr. Weiß. Speech by BUND on the demonstrations in Teuchern and Lützen against the Intermunicipal Industrial and Commercial Area (IKIG) on the A9 and B91 Dear comrades, affected parties, and interested persons, if the speeches and press releases gave the impression that those affected by the IKIG plans are only farmers, landowners, nature conservation groups, and residents of immediately adjacent municipalities like Nessa or Zorbau, unfortunately, that is not the case. All residents of the district are affected by this senseless and reprehensible plan, whether directly or indirectly. 
This is about a seemingly rich cornucopia from which those responsible in the district administration and municipalities (district administrator and mayors) are drawing — and also serving themselves by creating new positions/offices. Unfortunately, this comes with a huge downside for municipal finances, the consequences of which our children and grandchildren will have to bear, as will be explained below. This cornucopia is the structural fund to manage structural change, which after much noise from municipal and state levels, was filled by the federal government with promises amounting to many millions also for the BLK (Burgenlandkreis) and has partly already been paid out. It was intended for regions affected by structural change (coal mining and coal-fired power generation) in Lusatia and the Central German mining area. Unfortunately, large sums initially flowed into regions not affected by structural change at all. Immediate measures in particular show the extent to which these financial resources were diverted away from the truly affected parties: employees of mining companies, municipalities with their citizens, and local businesses. To recall: Prestige projects include the Naumburg Cathedral but also projects far away from the district and mining area such as the Wörlitz Park. What they all have in common is the lack or absence of sensible ideas for projects that actually reach people in the region. 
The multimillion-dollar commitment, achieved with much fanfare, now also has to be spent somehow in the BLK. That exactly a long-buried idea of a huge industrial and commercial area along the A9 is being revived is downright bizarre. About 15 years ago, it was already realized that such a plan, completely disconnected from actual needs, would be a huge burden on the district. Nothing has changed in this situation; there are still many unused but designated undeveloped reserve areas in the district. In addition, there are many industrial wastelands in all four municipalities involved in the IKIG. Therefore, the question naturally arises as to what awaits us citizens once the earmarked funding millions are spent — if they even materialize at all given the state debt at the envisaged scale. 
In this regard, questions were asked in the city council of WSF and answered by the head of the structural commission, Mr. Zschukelt: Is it expected that the state or federal government will completely cover operating costs and possible debts over the years in addition to the promised investments? The clear answer: No, not through InvKG funds (structural change money), possibly other options for budget consolidation exist. If not, no answer! Possibly insolvency of the district and municipalities will follow, and in any case a reduction of all kinds of services for the citizens of the affected municipalities and district. Is there a scenario in case the federal government withdraws from or drastically reduces its funding commitments? The clear answer is “no,” the district has no such scenario. If the financing already reveals such weaknesses, it seems practical questions have so far played no role. Industrial settlements like in Zeitz, Leuna, Buna, and Bitterfeld require special infrastructure such as wastewater treatment, drinking water, and energy supply. These are fundamental problems for which solutions should exist. Postponing everything until detailed planning is available (as seen by the head of the building authority in WSF) increases the risk of unpredictable operating costs that will ultimately be borne by all citizens. What has been offered to us so far are more or less fantasies in the form of a pioneering role of the BLK in hydrogen technologies with multimillion-euro pipeline routes, but without demonstrating concrete applications — except for the up to four times more expensive conversion to hydrogen drives for buses or garbage trucks. Real pioneers like the Leuna chemical park have drastically scaled down their activities and are not chasing such dreams. Unfortunately, the Burgenlandkreis refuses to acknowledge such problems and is pushing the involved municipalities, their administrations, and elected representatives with all their might to ignore any risks and make such far-reaching decisions without awareness of problems. A long-announced feasibility study has so far been withheld from elected representatives, for obvious reasons. They are supposed to buy the “pig in a poke,” which has nothing to do with transparency or citizen proximity. Doubtful means are not shied away from either. The example of the unified municipality of Teuchern clearly illustrates this. 
In March of this year, the city council decided on a supplement and amendment to its land use plan, which was then sent for comments to public interest groups, including local nature conservation organizations (BUND, Nabu, and NaturFreunde). The official reason was to correct old existing plans of the formerly independent districts for residential zoning. But in reality, hidden in an extensive but extremely poor-quality city council proposal, there are two small references to an extension of the land use plan by 178 hectares — exactly the areas that Teuchern is contributing to the IKIG (almost 50%). Was this meant to mislead the elected representatives? It almost seems that this lengthy but content-empty proposal was intended exactly for this purpose. Thankfully, members of the BI and associations did not overlook this. Corresponding preliminary discussions in the unified municipality of Teuchern and for today’s city council meeting were cancelled. Mayor Marcel Schneider is right in saying that such serious (and certainly consequential) decisions should not be made so quickly by the old city council. The new city council is supposed to deal with this after its constitution. Let us hope that this happens with the necessary care and that this land designation does not sneak back somewhere between the lines. The negative examples of HHM and the district council must not be repeated in Teuchern or Lützen. I am sure the BI will keep a watchful eye on this. Besides the aforementioned unpredictable costs that will come upon us citizens with this IKIG, it seems that any reason has abandoned those responsible, for example in the neighboring municipality of WSF. Here, another commercial area "Am Sandberg" with a size of 35.3 hectares is already planned on the western side of the A9. And this on equally high-quality farmland as around Nessa/Zorbau and moreover in the Langendorfer Stollen drinking water protection area. There is no real need for this either, given the sufficient industrial wastelands, and without fundamental clarification of financing, infrastructure, and the necessary workforce. A matter that passed the WSF city council with only one opposing vote, without considering possible consequences. We will definitely keep a close eye on the IKIG and the Sandberg commercial area, pointing out the issues to be criticized and demanding the withdrawal of these senseless plans! Unfortunately, it currently seems more likely that any failure of IKIG will have its causes in the dumbest of all previous German governments, as Sahra Wagenknecht rightly said about the Red/Green/Yellow traffic light coalition. Besides the worst economic minister of all time, who is sinking our economy into the abyss, broken finances are part of their record. Whether Germany’s structural funding will be cut if things continue to go downhill remains to be seen. Either way, our children and grandchildren will still have to grapple with the economic and financial consequences. More serious, however, are the consequences of further uncontrolled soil sealing on areas with some of the most fertile soils in the world, with the irretrievable destruction of our livelihood, agricultural food production. Thanks, Wolfgang Gotthelf, deputy chairman of the BUND district group BLK The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung published an article on the demonstration in Lützen with the headline Headwind for Industrial Area – Protests in Front of Lützen Town Hall Target the Most Important Structural Change Project of the Burgenlandkreis. Why the City Council Postponed an Important Decision Afterwards. Video of the Demo in Teuchern against the IKIG on June 18, 2024Author: AI-Translation - Wolfgang Gotthelf | vor dem 01.07.2024 |
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