Millions of loss for taxpayers: Edewechter container village remains empty!

Millions of loss for taxpayers: Edewechter container village remains empty!

A significant mistake in planning has led to a costly misalignment in the Ammerland district. A container village that should be built for Ukrainian refugees remains unused and thus ensures large worry lines with the taxpayers. The Federation of Taxpayers criticizes the situation, which was incurred by incorrect calculation of the number of needs and a late report of the number of admission numbers by the municipalities.

In the course of the Ukraine War, the number of refugee Ukrainians in Germany had increased considerably. By February 2022, around 1.1 million people had been looking for protection in the Federal Republic. According to the specifications, the district of Ammerland should accommodate 1,400 more refugees for spring 2023. Thereupon the container village "Dorf Edewecht" was planned, which should offer space for up to 4,000 people.

misunderstandings in planning

While the construction work was in full swing, the district surprisingly received the announcement by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior in February 2023 that there were already enough Ukrainians in the country and that there would be no further assignments to Ammerland. A misunderstanding regarding the reporting of the numbers had led to this decision, which resulted in the container village soon.

The district of Ammerland had already created enormous costs. The expenditure amounts to around 5.2 million euros, including 3.7 million euros for container systems and 1.3 million euros for the development of the site. Initially, the district had hoped for the assumption of costs by the state of Lower Saxony, but these hopes quickly smashed. The Ministry of the Interior refused to take responsibility for the inappropriate figures.

criticism and financial consequences

The federal government's federal government drew attention to the waste of tax money. In the annual publication of the "Schwarzbuch", such cases are documented that uncover unnecessary expenses of the state. Together with other questionable projects, such as a bridge for bats and a much too expensive, unusable toilet, the "Dorf Edewecht" case causes excitement.

In order to minimize the financial losses, the container village was dismantled again in spring 2024. It should be noted that despite the sale of parts of the containers, the municipality remains on a significant financial loss for around 2.6 million euros. The Federation of Taxpayers emphasizes that such misunderstandings and planning errors not only burden individual counties, but ultimately the entire society.

the state and district urgently need to find solutions in order to use the taxpayers' tax money more efficiently and to avoid such errors in the future. It is to be hoped that this lesson will not be forgotten to prevent further malfunction. For a detailed view of the case, See the report on www.az-online.de .