Hambergen in investment fever: Millions planned for new buildings!

Hambergen in investment fever: Millions planned for new buildings!

The Hambergen community is facing far-reaching investment decisions that affect both the municipal buildings and the future of the cooperative comprehensive school (KGS). The non-attached councilor Hermann Wieters has made a proposal to spin off all real estate into a new company in order to reduce budgetary pressure. This goes hand in hand with the high renovation and new construction costs, which are estimated at a double-digit million amount. The buildings affected include the KGS school building, a planned new daycare center, several fire stations as well as the construction yard and the Hambad, reports the Weser-Kurier.

Wieters suggests setting up a company called “Immobilien Moorheimat” in order to manage the existing and new properties in the joint community more efficiently. This should both utilize synergies and streamline administration, he explains. However, the administration expresses concerns about the feasibility and points out the additional effort that setting up such an in-house business would entail.

Financial challenges and criticisms

The municipal regulator will closely monitor the budget review as the resulting decisions could have far-reaching financial implications. An internal review of the legal and economic aspects is considered insufficient and an external specialist office would be required. An early time frame for the examination by September is not feasible, which has influenced the discussions in the technical committee. Here they voted against the proposed feasibility test without debate.

Another problem remains uncertainty about the proposal's financial solutions. Wieters mentions vague options such as special assets and outsourcing from the household, but there is hardly any rental income from external third parties. Councilor Udo Mester (SPD) also criticized the fact that the joint municipality would ultimately have to bear the costs. Wieters' proposal was not approved there - he only voted to examine its feasibility. The SPD, CDU and the UKA-FDP-BSW group have already submitted their own application to advance the KGS restructuring project.

Future of the cooperative comprehensive school

Given the challenges facing the KGS, the school, which is over 60 years old and struggles with structural damage, a lack of accessibility and an entrance area that is too small, needs a fundamental decision. A feasibility study by DKC Kommunalberatung from Cologne examined three variants for the future use of the school: the demolition and construction of a part, a completely new building in the same place or at a different location.

The financial aspects of these variants have been comprehensively analyzed: Variant 1 amounts to around 34 million euros (14.4 million euros for the renovation and 19.6 million euros for the new building), while variant 2, the completely new building, is estimated at around 36.9 million euros. The third variant, a new building at a new location, could cost around 39 million euros. In the overall assessment, including financing, price increases and risks, the costs in the first case reach almost 100 million euros. The appraiser recommends building a new building on a new property because this option achieves the highest number of points. Joint municipal mayor Gerd Brauns is surprised by the results and emphasizes the need for external expertise. The next steps include discussions with the school about space requirements.

The projects relating to the expansion of the municipal infrastructure, especially the KGS, are on the joint municipality's agenda, with numerous challenges in terms of financing and planning having to be overcome. Discussions in the coming months will be crucial to determining how the situation develops.