"BIG last chance"

New MCI building: Neos insist on complete clarification

The Neos - in the picture LA Susanna Riedlsperger - also stand behind WK boss Thaler and rector Altmann: "Transparency is needed!"

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof/Neos)

A planned new building for the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) has been under discussion for over ten years. It has not yet been completed. "A solution with the BIG is the last chance, but this step should have been taken much earlier," emphasizes Susanna Riedlsperger from the Neos.

Panels are falling from the ceiling, window panes are shattering, the heating sometimes breaks down, projects take place in the basement, the air is stifling - the list of shortcomings at the MCI is long. Almost as long as the discussion about the new building. As a reminder: there is a legally valid state parliament resolution from 2015 for the new building. But this shows once again how much resolutions are worth - namely not even the paper they are written on.

It is clear to everyone that a new building is more urgent than ever. It's hard to imagine a student having a slab fall on their head. And if it's also an American, then things get even more exciting - the keyword is compensation.

"Where are the reserves for new buildings?"
The question raised last week by WK President Barbara Thaler about reserves for new construction is also exciting. Common sense - in the private sector - says: if you want to build or buy something, you have to put something aside beforehand. But perhaps political common sense is different.

It was clear to everyone that the 'do-it-yourself' Tyrolean approach was also doomed to failure at the MCI.

LA Susanna Riedlsperger

"Valuable time was lost through procrastination"
The Neos have a similar view to Thaler. "A new MCI building with the BIG is the last chance. This step should have been taken much earlier. It was clear to everyone that the 'do-it-yourself' Tyrolean way was also doomed to failure with the MCI. By hesitating, valuable time was lost to put the complicated new contract award on a stable legal footing and to examine the possibility in detail in terms of public procurement law," emphasizes Susanna Riedlsperger, member of the pink parliament.

Riedlsperger also has clear words regarding Thaler's criticism of the financing: "Regardless of whether the MCI is rebuilt or ultimately fails due to the financing, we will need a complete clarification of how it could come to this, who is responsible for it and, above all, who has made money from this whole farce."

The Neos also see their criticism of the entire process surrounding the total contractor confirmed. "Instead of ensuring greater transparency and cost transparency, the exact opposite has happened. Nobody can really explain how this absurd explosion in costs could have come about and the contracts remain one of the government's best-kept secrets," concludes MP Riedlsperger.