Transport Ministry Shells Out $22 Million to外部顧問
In a recent development, Green MP Sven-Christian Kindler has accused Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer of privatizing roads through public-private partnership (PPP) projects, which he believes should be legally banned.
Kindler's concerns stem from the alleged secrecy surrounding the economic feasibility studies and contracts for these projects. He has accused Scheuer of keeping his favorite consultants, who are reportedly charging a substantial amount of money to make the PPP projects appear favourable.
The MP has pointed out that big construction companies and external consultants are believed to benefit from these PPP projects, while citizens foot the bill. The lack of transparency in these projects, according to Kindler, is a cause for concern.
Investigations by the Federal Court of Auditors suggest that the state could carry out these projects better and cheaper. Each of the 13 ongoing PPP projects is costing an average of 1.7 million euros in consultant fees alone. Over the past decade, the Federal Ministry of Transport has spent 22.4 million euros on external consulting services related to highway privatization.
The Federal Government's response to Kindler's inquiry reveals that the same consulting firms are consistently involved in the PPP projects. One engineering firm and its subcontractors have received contracts for ten projects, while a law firm and its subcontractors have received contracts for six projects.
Kindler has criticized the involvement of these consulting firms, stating that they have made fortunes from the privatization of public infrastructure by the CSU Minister. He has called for an end to all PPP projects, claiming they are expensive and opaque privatization projects.
The details of this controversy were reported in the Thursday editions of the newspapers of the "Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland". Andreas Scheuer has signed two new PPP contracts this year with a total value of 4.2 billion euros, according to Kindler.
The search results do not provide specific names of engineering and law firms involved in highway privatization projects over the last ten years, nor the number and types of projects for which they provided consulting services. Despite this, the issue continues to garner attention and debate in German politics.
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