[The Local] Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer has admitted that the much-delayed new Berlin BER international airport may miss its October 2013 opening deadline, yet indirectly criticised the capital’s mayor for the continuing fiasco.
Initially the airport’s opening date was set for 30 October 2011. In June 2010. Photo: Wikipedia
“The co-owner, the federal government, sees signs that the opening date of October 27, 2013 might possibly not be met,” Ramsauer told Die Welt newspaper on Wednesday.
The state governments of Brandenburg and Berlin are the other two owners of the airport which is being built to replace the Schönefeld and Tegel airports, and was last expected to open in the summer.
The latest official reason for the non-opening of the airport was that the fire warning system was not working, and Ramsauer said many tests were still needed to see whether it was now going to function.
He said the BER supervisory board, chaired by Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, was responsible for the management of the project – but also that they were reliant on the managers providing all necessary information.
The main problem with the project has been that, “not all decisive facts have been laid on the table of the supervisory board,” said Ramsauer.
Yet the transport minister, who is also responsible for construction, said such problems were not unique to publicly-run projects. “Public and private building contractors cook with the same water – both give out contracts to companies,” he said.
“There are botches, delays and cost increases. That does not excuse anything for public projects, but one should not make it worse than it is,” he said.
Read the original story at The Local – Germany’s News in English
The Local
26th Dec, 2012
Related articles
- Little progress made at Berlin’s new airport (thelocal.de)
- Ach! No End In Sight For Berlin Airport Woes (npr.org)
The Airport Informer 