Berlin Police Buildings Renovation Plans Met with Ambiguity and Concern

The black-red coalition is committed to renovating the dilapidated police stations and properties to address issues such as moldy showers, legionella, falling ceilings, and defective windows and heaters. However, the Draft budget for 2024 and 2025 does not allocate any funds for these renovations. This contradicts what the CDU and SPD promised in the coalition agreement. They had expressed the importance of supporting the police and rescue workers, as well as significantly increasing the financial resources for the repair, modernization, and expansion of police and fire stations.

While there is a need for at least 2.1 billion euros for the renovation of police properties, only 10 million euros are planned for necessary renovations at the fire department. There is also a lack of clarity on where the funds for these renovations will come from, with the coalition planning to pay for them from a proposed climate fund. This has raised concerns about the inadequate allocation of funds and lack of clarity around funding for these crucial renovations.

In addition to concerns about funding, there are also concerns about energy efficiency in many police and fire department buildings. Almost two-thirds of these buildings need to be renovated in terms of energy efficiency. However, it is unclear when and how these planned renovations will be carried out as there is currently no specific measure outlined for them. The Interior Department is expected to present a report with a list of priorities for these renovations but timeline for this remains uncertain.

These concerns have been further compounded by legal and financial implications of proposed climate fund which under current plan would only be able to cover part of renovation costs, doubts about its compatibility with debt brake requirements have raised concerns about legal and financial risks that planned renovations might pose.

Overall, significant uncertainties surround planned renovations of police and fire department properties including sources of funding, feasibility of proposed climate fund