Government Council BS 51 million for better coordination of Basel construction sites

With the planned expansion of the district heating network by 2037, as many roads as possible in the canton of Basel-Stadt are to be renovated, greened and unsealed at the same time. The Basel government has applied to the Grand Council for 4.1 million francs per year to exploit synergies in the expansion of the district heating network.

Specifically, a total of CHF 51 million is to be invested by 2037 in order to reduce the construction site load through better coordination and to redesign the urban space on the occasion of the district heating expansion, as the Basel government announced on Tuesday. Due to the large number of construction sites, increased expenditure is planned for project coordination, the joint planning and implementation of projects and the optimization of traffic flow.

The costs include annual expenditure of one million Swiss francs for road construction, which is necessary due to the increased construction volume, it added. Added to this are personnel costs in the Department of Construction and Transport and the Department of Justice and Security for the planning, coordination and implementation of the district heating expansion and the redesigns. A new position in the cantonal police force is planned to examine which road closures are possible at the same time and which detour are most suitable.

With the proposal that has now been submitted, the government is fulfilling a motion submitted by the Grand Council's Environment, Transport and Energy Committee in April 2022. This motion called for the canton to use the upcoming district heating expansion of Industrielle Werke Basel for the simultaneous renovation of roads, pipelines and streetcar tracks as well as other redesigns in order to minimize the impact of construction work on the population.