Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The former Baden-Württemberg Expo pavilion at the world exhibition in Dubai will be retained. Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) announced in Stuttgart that it would be part of the new model city "Expo City Dubai" and was handed over to the government of the United Arab Emirates on Friday. A green, sustainable and business-friendly model municipality is planned in the Arab country, which is also to become a free trade zone.
As a rule, the earlier buildings on the exhibition grounds are handed over free of charge, i.e. given away. An alternative would have been demolition. The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced, citing the local government in Dubai, that a large part of the buildings should also be retained by other exhibitors.
The Baden-Württemberg House at the Expo in Dubai, which cost a total of around 15 million euros, was originally the responsibility of three partners - the Chamber of Engineers, Fraunhofer and FWTM. The building was actually supposed to be built with sponsorship money and was therefore advertised as a project "from business for business". Initially, the state was only supposed to accompany the project politically and only contribute 2.8 million euros for the exhibition, but it was forced to bear most of the costs for the pavilion construction.
The Ministry of Economics has now registered its financial claims for reimbursement of costs with those involved.
