Mayor Sven Schulze, Mayor of Finance Ralph Burghart and Mayor of Construction Thomas Kütter held a press conference today to provide information on the City of Chemnitz's proposal for the use of funds from the special infrastructure and climate neutrality fund.
The City of Chemnitz is expected to receive annual funding totalling €15.67 million from the federal government's special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality between 2025 and 2036. These funds are divided into a lump sum budget and a regional budget. In the regional budget, the intended uses are binding and must be backed up with own funds.
Annual funding totalling EUR 8.8 million is available in the lump-sum budget. The administration proposes the following measures for classification: construction of a new sports hall in the city centre (for school and club use as well as fire brigade sports), the theatre and opera house measures, roof renovations to Exhibition Hall 1 and the competition hall in the Jutta Müller Ice Sports Centre, construction of a new sports hall in the Wielandstraße school area, relocation of the bus station towards the main railway station and creation of a central management yard for the city administration offices carrying out the construction work.
3.02 million is earmarked annually for schools in the regional budget. From the City of Chemnitz's perspective, this can be used for expanding the capacity of the Terra Nova Campus, upgrading the Josephinen Secondary School for fire protection, converting the sports hall into a canteen at the co-operation school, renovating a wing of the Valentina Tereschkowa Primary School, renovating the Jan Amos Comenius GS/Annenschule GS gymnasium and renovating the former Borna Primary School.
Measures for municipal road and bridge construction are also subsidised in the regional budget with 3.26 million euros per year. According to the proposal, these funds can be used primarily for the bridges at Falkeplatz and Südring.
A further 570,000 euros per year from the regional budget are reserved for municipal hospital construction.
The administration's plans and prioritisation were presented to the city council's parliamentary groups last Friday, 13 March. On 19 May, a draft will be discussed in the Administration and Finance Committee and submitted to the City Council on 27 May for a resolution, which will make the final decision on the use of the funds. The complete list must be submitted to the State Directorate of Saxony by 15 June for final approval. Once approved, the implementation of the measures can begin.
Two measures have been particularly prioritised as regular audits have revealed urgent requirements. These concern the Chemnitz Exhibition Centre and the Ice Sports Centre:
Renovation required on the roof of Hall 1 at the Chemnitz Exhibition Centre
Localised defects were found on the hall ceiling (concrete roof) of exhibition hall 1. As the owner and operator of Hall 1, C³ Chemnitzer Veranstaltungszentren GmbH immediately commissioned a specialist company to carry out a corresponding inspection. As immediate measures, damaged material was professionally removed and the necessary safety measures were initiated.
The experts commissioned came to the conclusion that, according to the current state of knowledge, there is no immediate danger and event operations can continue without restriction.
However, due to the damage found, the hall roof will need to be repaired relatively soon in order to be able to continue using Hall 1. As a municipal subsidiary, C³ Chemnitzer Veranstaltungszentren GmbH is dependent on the support of the City of Chemnitz to finance the approximately 7.7 million euros.
Renovation required on the roof of the competition hall at the Jutta Müller Ice Sports Centre
In 2025, a regular inspection of the roof structure of the competition hall/event hall at the Jutta Müller Ice Sports Centre was carried out, the results of which revealed a need for structural action.
To this end, initial safety measures were carried out in the competition hall/event hall at the end of last year. In February 2026, more in-depth component inspections were carried out so that the experts involved could gain a final picture.
As a result of this process, the undulating concrete elements of the listed competition hall/event hall now need to be replaced after the roof structure has been in place for over 60 years. Further investigations and planning are currently underway to prepare for this measure.