structural development

Hello!

Yesterday, while the whole republic was sitting in front of the television and watching the EM match between England and Germany, the members of our Structural Change working group had their thoughts elsewhere. In the evening, the relevant news sites clicked on "reload page" every minute - after all, the first meeting of the Regional Monitoring Committee (RBA) was due.

The RBA, which was formed in April, is a body consisting of the districts of Görlitz, the district of Bautzen and two municipalities or interest groups in each of the two districts. It decides in the first instance which of the submitted funding applications on the way from - and for the time after - coal will be approved. The list of the 38 projects approved yesterday now goes to the regional ministry and then to the federal government, which, however, still has a one-month right of veto. A bit as if Germany were 2-0 up against England and the game was simply interrupted for a month in the 80th minute. The odds are good, but victory is not yet certain...

If there are no objections, the funding applications can be submitted to the Saxon Development Bank after one month. Birgit Weber, committee chair and deputy for the district of Bautzen, expects the money to flow from 2022.

First of all we say: "Wow!".

More starting signal is not possible - and that after only one year. Because the decision to phase out coal was just a year ago - and it is already foreseeable that "the excavators will soon be rolling, that commercial areas for which investors are ready will be developed and jobs will be created," explains Uwe Garack from our municipal team . He is pleased that "really every citizen" in the Görlitz district now feels that "after all the long structural change discussions, the spades are being taken up". And this ominous "structural change" finally becomes a tangible and co-designable structural development.

Clara Hartung from the innovation team is also happy: "Finally the money is flowing into the region". Because it is clear that the RBA, as the first instance, found 38 of 40 projects submitted to be good - and "estimated a total volume of around 215 million euros for these projects." states the native of Lusatia. 19 projects in the district of Görlitz were certified "eligibility", these 19 applications are about 130 million euros. "Even if not all projects are accepted by the federal government - the signs that the development of the district is picking up speed can be felt by everyone.". Like the other colleagues and many other applicants for funding, she is eagerly awaiting the upcoming decisions - Nino Gehler describes it like this: "It's good that things will continue in the foreseeable future, so we can hope for empirical values ​​and that the municipalities and mayors will be even more purposeful with their project ideas in the future advise".

The list now submitted to the regional ministry and the federal government includes, for example, applications for the expansion of the Lausitzbad in Hoyerswerda (20 million euros), five million euros for the expansion of the Görlitz zoo, over one million for the expansion and development of an industrial park in Waldhufen near Niesky and 4.5 million for the expansion of the train station in Weißwasser. Of course we will keep you up to date on everything else at this point!

Saskia Brosius from the innovation team is of course also pleased that structural development is now picking up speed, but still sees "room for improvement" in terms of innovation. After all, she studied how to bring a region forward through creativity and innovation - which is why she, together with Christoph Scholze and Dr. Johannes L. Sauerwein, the experts from the Grantiro Think Tanks who are at our side, are looking forward to the coming October. Because then our innovation team will start moving out into the villages, towns and communities and offering local workshops for everyone who is interested in new projects, motivating everyone to participate and sharing their ideas for a modern, grandchild-friendly, livable and lovable, digital to develop a networked and sustainably designed district of Görlitz.

We look forward to the structural development - and your letters!

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Best regards!

Your

Yasna