The planned controversial police station at the Kottbusser Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg can cost up to 3.75 million euros – and will therefore be significantly more expensive. In addition to the 250,000 euros previously estimated in the budget, a further 3.5 million euros are now planned for setting up the guard, said Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) and the SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh on Monday during a visit to the future location.
In April, it was initially assumed that the costs would increase tenfold to 2.5 million euros. There are delays in the schedule. Spranger wanted to open the station by the end of the year. Work is now scheduled to start in January 2023 on the first floor of the high-rise building above Adalbertstraße below.
According to the police, the station is manned around the clock by three police officers per shift. A tenants’ association from the high-rise refused to allow the police to enter the building. Now entrepreneurs and tradesmen are getting together on site: they support a Kotti week – but not at the location in the building wing favored by Spranger.
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Spranger defended her prestige project, which also caused displeasure within the police force. Despite intensive efforts and searches, no other place could be found. Discussions have been going on with local residents for years. “We’ve already lost seven years,” she said. During this time, crime continued to rise. The Kottbusser Tor with its many pubs and snack bars is also a place with street crime, drug trafficking and a partly anti-police scene.
The 200 square meter rooms are currently being cleared of contaminated sites, and the expansion for the police is to begin in June. According to the Berliner Immobiliengesellschaft (BIM), basic renovations, police technology and safety glass for the windows are particularly expensive. In addition, there is currently a difficult situation on the construction market. “Security can cost us something, security has to cost us something,” said Saleh. The 3.75 million euros should contain a buffer for the financing.
Spranger meanwhile has to deal with protests against the planned police station. Under the title “Don’t leave Spranger’s show undisturbed,” a left-wing radical initiative wants to disrupt a “political dinner” of the Berlin economic talks with Spranger on Tuesday evening.
The event in a hotel to align domestic policy shows that planning for the police station is not about the interests and needs of local residents, the announcement said. Indirectly, eggs are being thrown, as was recently the case with the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD).
