Gabriel rejects stimulus 'orgy' for roadwork
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday warned against making a new government stimulus package into an “orgy” of construction work on the country’s roads.
“A new roadwork orgy would be wrong,” Gabriel told daily Frankfurter Rundschau, urging state money should instead be spent supporting fixing bad roads and helping alleviate traffic congestion and noise.
He also said the government was considering offering state guarantees to help realise massive offshore wind parks along Germany’s North and Baltic Sea coasts.
“We’re discussing guarantees to secure such large projects,” Gabriel said. “We also have to speed up the time it takes to approve power lines on the coast.”
According to the paper, banks have become reluctant to fund such renewable energy projects in the wake of the global financial crisis.
But Gabriel said the government was convinced of the viability of offshore wind parks. “The risk of failure with renewable energy is very low,” he said.
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“A new roadwork orgy would be wrong,” Gabriel told daily Frankfurter Rundschau, urging state money should instead be spent supporting fixing bad roads and helping alleviate traffic congestion and noise.
He also said the government was considering offering state guarantees to help realise massive offshore wind parks along Germany’s North and Baltic Sea coasts.
“We’re discussing guarantees to secure such large projects,” Gabriel said. “We also have to speed up the time it takes to approve power lines on the coast.”
According to the paper, banks have become reluctant to fund such renewable energy projects in the wake of the global financial crisis.
But Gabriel said the government was convinced of the viability of offshore wind parks. “The risk of failure with renewable energy is very low,” he said.
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