The federal government of Angela Merkel has turned a blind eye to the existing problems over the past 10 years, German economist and expert on traffic Ferdinand Dudenhöffer said in an interview with Sputnik, adding that the leading EU country has completely abandoned its infrastructure.
"This not only concerns the traffic and the roads. It [the government] also didn't pay attention to such issues as fast internet or transition to electric cars. Universities are in poor condition, as well. Germany has allowed its infrastructure to decline. This is bad, very bad; with the previous government it was not the case," Dudenhöffer said.
According to the economist, Germany has all the preconditions for active investments into its future. The economy is on the rise, the volume of tax revenues is sufficient. According to Focus magazine, 14 billion euros were allocated this year for road construction alone.
"There is enough money for one road, and there is no money for another. Funds for it are allocated in the next budget. The result is long-term road works and unproductive use of the resources of the national economy," Dudenhöffer stated.
For his turn, Heiner Monheim, a retired professor in the field of territorial planning at the University of Trier, believes that the situation in other spheres is even worse: "If we pay attention only to the roads, this won't help us to get out of this difficult situation."
In his opinion, the railway network in Germany is in a much poorer condition, with regions and local communes desperately lacking money for construction.
"After four years of his or her term, the construction site is ready, but then the new election comes, the politician [who was in charge of the construction projects] is not re-elected" and everything starts from the very beginning.
In order to avoid bureaucratic obstacles and make the whole system work, the analyst proposed to introduce a modern management system that will be completely independent of the political conjuncture.