Why Germany's big builds often run over time and budget

"Berlin's new airport? Planned for 5 years, finished in 14. Stuttgart's central station? Still under construction after 16 years. Hamburg's concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie? Nine years instead of three. And the costs? Sometimes 10 times higher than promised. Or take Cologne's opera house. Built in the 1950s as a symbol of modern democracy, it was a cultural jewel."

""At the time, I thought, 'Okay, that's something they will figure out quickly.' I was optimistic." Ten years later, Emily hasn't set foot in the building. Performances have been scattered across temporary venues, and frustration runs deep. The original budget of 250 million ($297 million) has ballooned to 850 million. Add interest rates and the cost of interim venues and the bill reaches 1.5 billion. "It makes me sick," said Hindrichs. "It feels like throwing good money after bad over and over again.""

"In the decade-long construction time, actor Andreas Groetzinger has been going through a range of emotions: "Hope, despair, anger and increasingly ridicule. New dates were announced time and again. They just never turned out to be true." The most troubling aspect for Groetzinger was that no one ever told him why the project derailed. "Nobody knows," he said, "nobody can pinpoint what exactly went wrong. It's all a big, confusing, super-complex web of causalities.""

Several major German infrastructure and cultural projects have experienced substantial delays and cost overruns. Berlin's airport was planned for five years but finished in fourteen. Stuttgart's central station remains under construction after sixteen years. Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie took nine years instead of three. Cologne's opera house entered renovation in 2012 with a three-year plan but remains a construction site a decade later. The original 250 million budget grew to 850 million, and total costs including interest and interim venues reached 1.5 billion. Performances have been displaced and frustration among artists and staff has deepened.

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