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The clearance of the Mitholz ammunition depot has been suspended. The DDPS can therefore no longer buy people’s houses. Those affected are dismayed.
Haunted houses, extinct pubs and washing machines that are rusting away: there are more and more of these in Mitholz in the Kandertal. Five families have already left the village, while others are currently being resettled.
But now there is a new problem for the 51 people affected. Due to a lack of money, the Defense Department DDPS can no longer buy houses and land from people.
In addition, it does not support them in moving out of the danger zone of the ammunition depot that exploded in 1947, despite written purchase commitments. Because the 50 million francs planned for the current year are blocked, as research by “Switzerland News” shows.
The Mitholz disaster in 1947
How can it be that the DDPS suddenly ran out of funds? The background is a recent decision by the Security Policy Commission of the National Council (SiK-N). The SiK has decided to postpone the decision on the 2.6 billion loan for munitions clearance in Mitholz.
VBS must again examine alternatives to evacuation
The extra round can last a year and has consequences: the funds planned by the DDPS for the fellow volunteers no longer flow. Because the DDPS has to re-examine the variants “covering” and “encapsulation” of the ammunition depot.
Legend:
“We pay the bill”: Markus Rupp cannot build a new property without DDPS funds.
SRF
It is therefore no longer certain that the ammunition depot will ever be cleared – during which the residents have to leave the area for years. Then the property purchases would also be unnecessary.
We are no longer allowed to buy the properties. Now it is a very difficult situation for everyone involved.
The Mitholz clearance project manager at the DDPS, Adrian Gotschi, is dismayed: “We are no longer allowed to buy the properties. Now it is a very difficult situation for everyone involved. Because you no longer know what would actually be right.”
Horror in Mitholz is great
The tradesman Markus Rupp, who produces cooling systems in Mitholz, is dismayed by the payment freeze. He wants to build a replacement building further down in the valley. You now have to buy building land, conclude contracts, pay planning costs. “Now it just means there’s no more money – we don’t even know if we’ll ever get any money. This can not be it. We foot the bill here.”
The IG Mitholz criticizes the decision of the SiK in the strongest possible terms. This would put those affected back into the “grueling state of insecurity”. It had long been agreed that the ammunition depot should be completely cleared.
Legend:
The people in the security perimeter in Mitholz should actually move away.
SRF
The IG is asking the SiK-N to correct their decision. “No one knows where you are now. If no money comes, we cannot continue,” says Karl Steiner, President of IG Mitholz
Post-credit as a solution?
What does the Sik say? There is no official statement. Commission member and SVP National Councilor Erich Hess wants to make property purchases possible again from the summer with a supplementary loan of CHF 50 million.
Legend:
The idyll is deceptive: Because of the ammunition depot, the future of Mitholz is uncertain.
SRF
Despite the acute lack of money, it was still the right decision to suspend the Mitholz eviction. “After all, it’s about 2,600 million francs.”