Saxony's Infrastructure Minister Regina Kraushaar (CDU) sees housing, innovation and the preservation of existing roads and bridges as clear priorities for her department. "We will only remain successful and become even better if we focus on the appeal of innovation," she said in an interview with the German Press Agency. Saxony has made a name for itself as a "land of inventors". It is important to build on this.
More expansion and maintenance instead of new construction
With tight budgets, the focus should be less on new construction and more on expanding and maintaining infrastructure, emphasized Kraushaar. In the case of roads alone, there was a loss of fixed assets of around 540 million euros between 2013 and 2022 - although around 400 million euros were spent on maintenance during this period. This makes it clear that further wear and tear could not be halted in Saxony either. The partial collapse of Dresden's Carola Bridge was an eye-opener.
"Bridge expert Professor Steffen Marx put it like this: There are two ways to use a bridge: Either to keep traffic moving until it has to be closed due to the risk of collapse, or to invest in its maintenance from the outset and thus extend its useful life in a relevant way," said Kraushaar. Private households also conserve their goods. A state should do the same with its infrastructure.
