Dresden is going into debt again for the first time in a long time. The city council decided on Monday evening in the context of the municipal budget that a bridge fund should enable investments to be made via loans. The city can then take out loans of up to 220 million euros for several bridge projects. At the heart of this is the demolition and reconstruction of the Carola Bridge, which partially collapsed in September 2024.
This loan financing is intended to free up funds for other projects, such as school construction and road building. "It is a big and difficult step to take on debt again for the first time in almost 20 years. It was not easy for anyone. But we have set the framework so tightly that Dresden is not threatened by a spiral of debt as in other municipalities," announced Lord Mayor Dirk Hilbert (FDP) in advance.
In March 2006, the city sold its two housing companies under the umbrella of Dresden Woba GmbH to the US financial investor Fortress for around 1.7 billion euros. With the money collected at the time, Dresden became the first major German city to free itself from all debts. However, the decision was controversial - as the municipality was rid of all its debts in one fell swoop, but no longer had any "silverware".
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