The dispute over the construction of a new prison for Saxony and Thuringia in Zwickau has now reached the courts. Specifically, it is about access to all construction documents on a server. Following the termination of the contract with the general planner, there is a dispute over access to this server, the Zwickau district court announced. The server was not operated by the general planner, but by a third company with which the state of Saxony, as the client, had no contract. It was therefore denied access. This is why the state went to court.
In a preliminary decision, a civil chamber ruled on Friday that the planner is not obliged to agree to the state taking over the project server. However, it must make the data available to the state via a new server. The existing contract with the server operating company may not be terminated until a legally binding decision has been made in the main proceedings. According to the court, the state has a claim to all documents created following the termination of the contract with the general planner.
The new XXL prison is intended to accommodate up to 820 prisoners from Saxony and Thuringia in future and replace old detention facilities. The first prisoners were originally due to move in as early as 2019. However, the project has been repeatedly delayed and the costs have skyrocketed. The state of Saxony announced in October that the contract with the general planner had been terminated, citing "increasingly inadequate service provision" as the reason. The company denied this and saw itself as a "pawn to cover up its own misconduct".
As a result of the new disputes, the date for the opening of the prison is currently unclear, as are the exact costs. Most recently, there was talk of more than 300 million euros.
According to the information provided, both sides can appeal against Friday's ruling at the Dresden Higher Regional Court.
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