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Hanover (dpa) - The Lower Saxony Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHKN) has rejected criticism of the project after the publication of a BUND study on the construction of the A20 coastal motorway.

"Every year opponents of infrastructure pull the argument of increased construction costs out of the drawer in order to further delay the implementation of infrastructure projects that are important for the Lower Saxony economy, such as the A20", said IHKN managing director Hendrik Schmitt, according to a statement from the association on Wednesday.

Above all, it was long planning procedures, a lack of planning capacities at the authorities and far-reaching possibilities of appeal that delayed infrastructure projects for years and thus also caused construction costs to rise, said Schmitt.

The IHKN therefore calls for planning to be accelerated for large infrastructure projects.

With a view to the coastal motorway, Schmitt pointed out that the A20 served a better connection of the ports to the hinterland and also represented an urgently needed gap in the European transport network for freight traffic.

The Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) presented a study on Tuesday, according to which the costs for the A20 could be around twice as expensive as initially planned.

Instead of the targeted 3.7 billion euros, according to BUND calculations, the costs should be at least 7 billion euros.

The costs of the new construction project were seriously underestimated in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030, it said.

The decision on inclusion in the requirement plan was therefore made under incorrect conditions.

According to BUND, the building is also damaging nature and the climate.

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The A20 coastal motorway is intended to connect the Netherlands, northern Germany and Poland and, with a length of 121 kilometers on the Lower Saxony side, is one of the country's most important infrastructure projects.

However, there is always a dispute about the construction.

Lawsuits delayed the start of the first 13-kilometer section in Lower Saxony from the A28 near Westerstede (Ammerland district) to the A29 near Jaderberg.

IHKN notification on the A20 study

Information on the coastal motorway and planning status

BUND study on the A20