Munich (dpa / lby) - Despite a drastic warning from the city treasury, the Munich city council has spoken out in favor of keeping the option of a new subway open. "I know that a lot of people have rumblings in their stomachs, my enthusiasm is also manageable - but I know that it is a decision for the future," said Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) on Wednesday at the general assembly, with a view to the still unresolved financing.
The background is that the possible new U9 could only become reality in the distant future - but today, in the course of construction work for the second S-Bahn trunk line, an underground station under Munich Central Station would have to be built. Without this "holding structure" a subsequently built stop at the main station is no longer justifiable - and without a stop at the main station, the U9, intended to relieve the existing north-south lines, makes no sense, Reiter quoted the experts as saying.
A large majority of MPs therefore voted in favor of the project and approved further funds for the holding structure. In total, at least 662.6 million euros flow into the shell and the corresponding planning work - money that would be lost if the U9 were not built later.
The city treasury, on the other hand, had made it very clear: "We recommend getting out of the detention measure (...)." The reasoning: Even if unexpectedly large amounts of funding flowed later for the U9, the amount still to be raised by the municipality was too much for the cash-strapped city coffers. The construction costs, currently estimated at around four billion euros, are likely to rise to 9 to 10 billion euros by the time the project is completed at the end of the 2030s. Even in the most favorable scenario, Munich would have to bear 6.2 to 6.7 billion euros of this alone.
