display
Magdeburg (dpa / sa) - After years of political process, the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt has finally and retrospectively abolished the road construction subsidies at the beginning of the year.
After countless consultations in the plenary and the committees, the state parliament accepted a corresponding proposal from the governing coalition on Tuesday and declared the cause of the citizens' initiative Faire Strasse to be settled.
Cornelia Birkner from the citizens' initiative thanked the MPs in the debate and welcomed the abolition.
The alliance, which is also supported by the Free Voters, had collected the 30,000 signatures necessary for the success of the citizens' initiative by the summer and thus put parliament under pressure to deal with the issue.
The MPs reacted with relief.
"It's done," said the local political spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Silke Schindler.
"A long process leads to a happy ending."
Most recently, all parliamentary groups in the state parliament had campaigned for the abolition after the CDU was the last party to give up its resistance.
display
Saxony-Anhalt is one of the last states in which the municipalities are still obliged to collect part of the costs for road expansion from the residents.
Due to the steep rise in construction prices, the citizen's share quickly added up to five-digit sums.
For the years 2017 to 2019, the municipalities can decide for themselves whether they should still collect the contributions.
For construction work that ends this year and next, the state pays the contributions that the residents would otherwise have had to pay.
Starting in 2022, the municipalities are to receive annual lump sums that will help finance the improvement of the roads.