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Emmerich (dpa / lnw) - The renovation of the dikes in North Rhine-Westphalia is taking far too long from the point of view of an expert because of strict requirements and slow processing by the authorities.

There is a risk that NRW will fail to achieve the goal of renovation by 2025, said the spokesman for the NRW working group on flood protection and waters, Holger Friedrich, of the dpa.

"2025 - it will be incredibly sporty."

The approval procedures were becoming more and more complicated, and projects that had been completely planned and coordinated with the population remained hanging on the authorities for years.

You would then have to be started again later in parts.

"With all due understanding for personnel bottlenecks - the state has to recruit the necessary specialists here," demanded Friedrich, who is also the managing director of the largest North Rhine-Westphalia dike association Bislich state border on the Lower Rhine.

As an example, the expert cited a dike construction project in Rees-Löwenberg, which had already been applied for in 1999.

After the district government had not reacted for years, the association had to start a new, complex application process with public discussions.

The new application has now been with the authority again since the end of 2018.

Friedrich said that he only had limited understanding that the dike associations had to set up ecological compensation projects when renovating.

"We'd rather put the money in good dikes."

Finally, in the end, natural and green buildings would emerge, on which sheep often grazed.

And if the dyke building associations bought up fields as compensation areas and converted them into forest or grassland, the area for agriculture would be missing.

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In the Düsseldorf administrative region alone, 95 of a total of 280 kilometers of dyke are considered to be rehabilitation cases, and a further 21 kilometers are being investigated.

The latest report by the Ministry of the Environment to the state parliament on dyke rehabilitation from April 2020 also mentions a “high risk” for exceeding the 2025 time target.

The dykes had done a "good job" during the previous winter floods, including the new ones that were in the water for the first time, said Friedrich.

However, this flood has so far been moderate: At a level of 7.51 meters (Thursday noon) in Emmerich, it is still very well below the last "flood of the century" in 1995 with 9.84 meters in Emmerich.

Dykes need regular renovation because the water soaks the structures and repeatedly pulls the small parts out of the dyke when it drains, emphasized the expert.

Otherwise the stability will slowly but surely decrease.

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Around 1.4 million people live near the river in North Rhine-Westphalia on the Rhine alone.

Experts expect that extreme weather events and with them the risk of flooding will increase due to climate change.

Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) recently said that the state supports the improvement of the protection systems.

Specifically, dikes will be built around 70 centimeters higher during the renovation and the floor area will be doubled from around 30 to 60 meters, as Friedrich explained.

According to Friedrich, this costs around four to five million euros per kilometer of dike.

80 percent of the costs are borne by the state, the rest must be borne by the citizens who live in the established protection area of ​​the dike.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210205-99-309958 / 2

Overview of dike projects bislich-state border