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FDP proposes national road salt stockpile as shortage looms

DDP/DPA/The Local
DDP/DPA/The Local - [email protected]
FDP proposes national road salt stockpile as shortage looms
Photo: DPA

After more than five weeks of snowy weather, German municipalities are precariously close to running out of road salt, spurring the Free Democrats on Thursday to propose building a national salt reserve for extreme winters.

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“The federal government, as the authority of the states, must push for a minimum reserve of salt so that the entire country’s roadways are absolutely passable even in winter situations,” FDP transportation expert Patrick Döring told daily Rheinische Post.

Deputy head of North Rhine-Westphalia’s VSL association for shipping and logistics Sven Kische said welcomed the FDP’s suggestion.

See photos of winter's icy grip on Germany.

“The state must ensure that the street maintenance centres can manage even during long periods of cold,” he told the paper.

The ADAC automobile club also encouraged a salt stockpile.

“It can’t be that every homeowner has to assume liability for their premises while the streets aren’t salted because the municipalities want to save money,” spokesperson Roman Suthold told the paper.

On Wednesday street salt suppliers told news agency DPA that Germany by mid-January Germany had already used more salt than a typical winter requires and supplies were running out.

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