After a long dispute, construction of the new BMW battery factory in Lower Bavaria begins.
The car manufacturer BMW is continuing to advance electromobility. A new, large assembly plant for high-voltage batteries is being built in the Lower Bavarian communities of Irlbach and Straßkirchen. Now construction is underway.
Now things are getting concrete: the first construction machines have been delivered to a spacious site in the Straubing-Bogen district. In the next two years, an XXL factory for the assembly of high-voltage batteries is to be built here in Gäuboden .
The ribbon that has marked the large area since February is currently being collected. A construction road is also to be created. The excavation work will begin on Wednesday, as the construction manager told BR.
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Early start approved
The automobile company had submitted an application to the responsible district office in Straubing to start construction early , which was approved last week. Starting this week, construction companies will begin removing the humus from the approximately 60 hectare construction site, setting up the construction site and setting up office containers.
A spokesman for the district office in Straubing told BR that the approval of an early start to construction was not unusual. This does not anticipate the final decision on the building application. Among other things, the removal of earth, the setting up of the construction site and the construction of office containers were approved. All measures that could be reversed if necessary. However, it seems very unlikely that this will be necessary.
Protest against the new BMW factory
There had been a lot of controversy in advance about the construction project. Conservationists saw the environment threatened, residents feared too much traffic and a citizens’ initiative wanted to protect the fertile arable land.
In September last year there was a referendum . A clear majority of the community’s citizens were in favor of the industrial settlement. The government of Lower Bavaria also gave the green light: it had assessed the project positively in its spatial planning process.
One of the largest construction sites in Lower Bavaria
Now everything should happen very quickly. Shortly before Easter – and the impending start of construction – BMW distributed information sheets in the affected communities of Straßkirchen and Irlbach. It says that a total of around a quarter of a million cubic meters of humus – that’s more than 25,000 truckloads – will be removed. Some of it will be disposed of in four gravel dumps in the region in order to renaturate them.
Another part will initially be temporarily stored on the construction site before the soil is handed over to farmers from August if the relevant requirements are met. The required gravel is obtained from nearby pits, and the routes are set to distribute the traffic, the information sheet continues. The earthworks for the new BMW plant are expected to last until late summer.
Flutter band against bird breeding
The construction site is located on the outskirts of Straßkirchen – directly on the B8 between Plattling and Straubing. A few weeks ago, around 200 kilometers of red and white tape were stretched. This should stop meadow-nesting birds such as lapwings and skylarks from building nests there in spring. The animals should move to compensation areas that have already been created.
More than 3,000 jobs planned
The proponents of the mega-project – including Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (FW) and Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) – argued from the outset, for example, with the jobs that BMW would create. The construction of a new factory here in Bavaria – and not in a low-wage country – is also important for the future. Bernreiter said on the BR television program “jetz red i” last year: “The prosperity we have is not God-given. That’s why we have to do everything we can to ensure that we secure it in the long term in Lower Bavaria.”
BMW is building a large factory for the assembly of high-voltage batteries that will be used in its new electric cars on the approximately 100-hectare field in the municipalities of Straßkirchen and Irlbach. After the first phase, around 1,600 people will work in the new plant, and BMW plans to double the number of employees later.
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After a long dispute, construction of the new BMW battery factory in Lower Bavaria begins. source
