Under the frontpage headline, “Germany Must Invest €600 Billion in its Infrastructure,” the leading Swiss news daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote yesterday: “Roads full of potholes, dilapidated bridges, dilapidated railroad lines and an overloaded energy network: Germany’s infrastructure has been neglected in recent decades. The extent of the need for renovation has now been calculated in a joint study by the German Economic Institute (IW), which is close to employers, and the Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Cycle Research (IMK), which has close links to the trade unions.”
The €600 billion break down into €127 billion for transport infrastructure: €60 billion for the railroads, €28 billion for urban commuter transport, €39 billion for highways. Another €177 billion are needed for urban infrastructure: roads, schools, water supply, power supply. €200 billion alone for climate protection: building insulation, heating systems, other innovations.
