- SPD and Greens argue over railway construction in Saxony
Between the two small coalition partners in Saxony, there's a dispute over the causes of the sluggish expansion of bike paths. "More people want to cycle more often if the infrastructure is right and safe. However, Saxony lacks dynamism in planning and building bike paths quickly," said Paula Piechotta, a Member of the German Bundestag from Leipzig (Alliance 90/The Greens), to the German Press Agency. Despite all commitments to better infrastructure, the Saxon Ministry of Transport is letting lie unused double-digit million amounts from the federal government for cycling. "Whoever can't manage to apply for and use these federal funds for Saxony in time seems to consider mobility and road safety for all unimportant. Saxony needs more speed for better bike infrastructure throughout the country."
Greens: Saxon Ministry of Transport is dragging its feet on bike path construction
According to the Greens, the Ministry of Transport under Minister Martin Dulig (SPD) only applied for six million euros for bike paths from the federal government in 2022, although ten million was available. Money was also left over in the previous year. "It's no wonder, then, that out of the 2,130 kilometers of federal roads in Saxony, only 559 kilometers have a bike path, which is 26 percent. This puts Saxony at the bottom nationwide, with the federal average at 41 percent." From the federal "City and Countryside" bike promotion program, Saxony has more than 80 million euros available from 2020 to 2028. Almost half (42 percent) of this has not yet been committed.
The Dulig Ministry is also "dragging its feet" with federal funds for the planning and construction of bike expressways (BES). In Saxony, the BES Leipzig-Halle (section Schkeuditz-Leipzig) and the BES Dresden-Radeberg are to be funded. "The federal funds for the project Leipzig-Halle have been available since September 2022, and for the project Dresden-Radeberg since June 2023. To this day, the Free State has not called in a single euro," it was said. Only on April 9, 2024 - long after the funds were made available - did the Saxon cabinet create the conditions for the municipalities to apply for the money. "However, the BES must be fully planned and built by 2030. Due to the delay caused by the Free State, the municipalities now risk having to apply for and later return federal funds."
Dulig: Greens are preventing faster planning
Dulig reacted promptly. "I don't understand why the very green coalition partner, whether in the state or federal government, is criticizing me for the slow bike path construction. That's quite a statement. After all, they have prevented us for years from being able to build bike paths faster through procedural simplifications," said Dulig to the dpa. The problem with bike path construction is not the money, he said. Saxony has provided enough in the budget, and the federal government also provides sufficient funds. "On the contrary: The main problem is the planning times. Planning a bike path now takes almost as long as planning a road - eight to ten years. We wanted to shorten this, for example, by abolishing unnecessary regulations like the environmental compatibility test. But the Greens prevented that."
According to Dulig, Saxony has established a binding regulation for federal and state roads that a bike path must be built when they are newly constructed or expanded. The slow pace of expansion in municipalities, which are responsible for this according to the law, is not the fault of the Free State. "We have provided the funding, also for planning services. They just need to be claimed - for example, by the three major cities with their green mayors. If you know the facts and are braking procedures yourself, you shouldn't throw mud. That's not appropriate in a coalition."
At the same time, the Ministry of Transport clarified that funds from federal and state programs can only be claimed if the plans have reached the stage of construction readiness and are being implemented. "This should also be known by green federal politicians. You can't claim funds just to make the statistics of individual factions look good." Dulig found a ministry in 2014 where cycling was not a priority and changed that. Since taking office in 2019, the Greens have neither brought in their own initiatives and ideas to speed up or simplify bike path construction nor made suggestions on where more personnel for planning and construction could be found.
The European Union could potentially provide additional funding and support for improving Saxony's bike infrastructure, given its commitment to promoting sustainable transportation. Despite the European Union's potential involvement, the sluggish expansion of bike paths in Saxony continues to be a point of contention between its coalition partners, with the Greens accusing the Saxon Ministry of Transport of inaction.
