For the second time within a year, the city of Mainz, which has become rich due to exorbitantly increased trade tax revenues, has put together a "package" to invest the BioNTech millions in sustainable projects as far as possible. The almost 65 million euros from the "spring package" now presented are primarily intended to support the municipal utilities and their subsidiaries, the Mainzer Mobilität transport company.

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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Among other things, it is planned to buy the five hydrogen buses that are no longer needed from the neighbors from Wiesbaden – and also to bring the associated hydrogen filling station, which opened three years ago, to the left side of the Rhine. Since Eswe Verkehr no longer relies on fuel cell buses after a one-year test phase in regular service, but pursues a fleet strategy with electric and diesel vehicles, it was unexpectedly put in a position to expand its own hydrogen bus fleet from one test vehicle to six. What the municipality wants to support with two million euros.

Stable Wi-Fi in all buses

In addition, around 40 million euros are expected to be spent on the purchase of ten new trams over the next four years. It is already planned that the city will provide twelve million euros by 2024 for the acquisition of urgently needed replacement trams. For the long-planned expansion of the tram network, such as the 300-meter-long direct connection from Münsterplatz to Bahnhof West, almost five million have been put into the "spring package". According to the mayor and head of the finance department Günter Beck (The Greens), however, the individual projects must still be discussed and officially decided in the city council on Wednesday next week.

According to Janina Steinkrüger (The Greens), head of the transport department, it is likely to cost more than three million euros to provide all stops with digital information boards and make them "paper-free". For comparatively cheap 500,000 euros, there should also be a stable W-Lan connection for passengers in buses and trams, which, according to Steinkrüger, should benefit tourists unfamiliar with the area.

There will also be half a million euros for the installation of an intelligent charging system for the existing battery buses. This is necessary so that the entire power grid is not overloaded at certain times. Last but not least, the operating cost subsidy, which the city transfers to its transport company, is to be increased this year and next year by four million to seven million euros per annum.

According to CEO Daniel Gahr, Mainzer Stadtwerke expects a pleasing double-digit profit again for 2022. Despite many "overlapping crises", the company has always been able to report positive results in recent years, in some cases amounting to more than 30 million euros. And yet within five years half a billion euros have been invested in infrastructure improvements, says Gahr, who expects a similar investment sum over the next five years. D

According to Gahr, Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden AG will also spend a lot of money to prepare for the future: Among other things, the construction of a data center is planned at the traditional "Ingelheimer Aue" power plant site. Long dry periods and several hot summers have shown more than clearly how important the drinking water supply of citizens is, say Beck and Gahr. For the modernization of the waterworks located on the Rhine, the city wants to provide the municipal utilities with more than 2024 million euros by 26.