Project under review

High court puts Kahlenberg cable car on ice

(Bild: APA/HERBERT PFARRHOFER)

The mega-project of a cable car up the Kahlenberg was put on ice by the Federal Administrative Court on Friday. This is because the Supreme Court has now ruled that the question of a necessary environmental impact assessment must be re-examined. Critics of the project are rejoicing. 

A judge upheld a previous appeal by several environmental protection organizations and representatives of citizens' initiatives. The project opponents had complained against a decision by the City of Vienna in June.

"Important victory" for cable car critics
The matter will now be "referred back to the authority in question to issue a new decision", according to the court's ruling. Genial Tourismus- und Projektentwicklung GmbH now has six weeks to lodge an appeal against the court's decision.

The Kahlenberg cable car is to be 5.6 kilometers long and will cross the Danube twice.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

"The decision of the BVwG clearly confirms our legal argumentation," reacted lawyer Fiona List-Faymann, who represents the opponents of the project. According to the lawyer, the decision by the responsible municipal department 22 was unlawful. "This is an important victory and we are certain that the further proceedings will demonstrate the lack of environmental compatibility of the cable car," explained List-Faymann.

In an interview with krone.at, she explained that the BVwG's decision highlighted "various illegalities". Not only are land conservation areas affected, but the planned Park&Ride facility would also generate additional emissions, etc. MA 22 is now obliged to initiate an "extremely detailed examination" of this project, explains the lawyer: "That's what we wanted. And if you take a serious look at the whole thing, you will see that this cable car is not environmentally unfriendly."

Operators expect "quite a long process"
The operators of the project interpret the decision somewhat differently and believe that the question of the environmental impact assessment remains open. "The fact that the court is not carrying out the necessary investigations itself, but has referred the matter back to the EIA authority of the City of Vienna, will unfortunately lead to further delays for our project," said Hannes Dejaco, Managing Director of Genial Tourismus- und Projektentwicklung GmbH, expressing his disappointment.

Nevertheless, he is confident that "at the end of a process that will probably still take quite a long time" and regardless of the procedure that is ultimately applied, the Kahlenberg cable car will be found to meet all the approval criteria.

Fierce headwind for gondola lift
After a process that lasted almost a year, the City of Vienna's decision stated that no EIA was required for the project. The Provincial Environmental Ombudsman, three NGOs and residents from Floridsdorf and Kahlenbergerdorf then lodged an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court.