"Not economical"

Court of Audit criticizes purchase of Antheringer Au

Antheringer Au

(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Today, Wednesday, the State Court of Audit published its report on the purchase of the Antheringer Au. The report now confirms that the purchase was "neither economical, efficient nor expedient".

On October 20, 2022, the province of Salzburg purchased 520 hectares of land in the Antheringer Au from Max Mayr-Melnhof. These properties had been a Natura 2000 site since 2002. The province of Salzburg paid a purchase price of EUR 35.6 million. Adding the ancillary costs, the total costs amounted to 37.3 million euros. In its response, the state government justified the purchase price primarily with the vision of a far-reaching redesign and utilization of the Antheringer Au. It referred to selected excerpts from the individual expert reports.

Alternatives to the purchase were not examined
As part of the commissioned audit of the purchase of the Antheringer Au, the State Court of Audit found that this purchase did not comply with the principles of economy, efficiency and expediency. The promised restoration of the "Salzachauen" does not justify the purchase price. The provincial government did not examine the alternatives to the purchase of the Antheringer Au. The basic redemption procedure as a preliminary stage of expropriation would have reduced the financial outlay for the province. The purchase of the Antheringer Au was not absolutely necessary to achieve protected status as a European nature reserve.

Expert opinion only came after agreement on purchase price
The provincial government repeatedly commissioned the same expert to value the Weitwörther Au and Antheringer Au properties. His valuation methods and estimated values were criticized by two other appraisers and the internal experts as being outdated or too high. Despite these critical objections, the state government adhered to the estimates of the original expert. Based on the estimates that were criticized as being too high, the state government accepted the purchase price specified by the seller. In order to justify the high purchase price, it commissioned another expert. This expert did not submit his report until after the purchase price had been agreed. The object of purchase estimated and assessed in the appraisal did not correspond to the object of purchase actually acquired by the state of Salzburg according to the purchase agreement.

"Unbeatable cynicism"
The KPÖ and SPÖ have once again criticized the report. "The report by the provincial court of auditors confirms our view that the ÖVP-led provincial government paid far too much money to a large landowner - even though the purchase would not have been necessary for the renaturation of the floodplain. The fact that the ÖVP is throwing millions at a party-affiliated multimillionaire while cutting the heating subsidy for people on low incomes cannot be surpassed in terms of cynicism," says Natalie Hangöbl (KPÖ PLUS).

What happens to the waste?
We now see our rejection of the completely overpriced purchase of the Antheringer Au confirmed. The Haslauer government has made a fabulous deal possible for a multimillionaire and spent millions of taxpayers' money on it," explains SPÖ provincial parliamentary group chairman Max Maurer. "To make matters worse, the ÖVP-led provincial government also bought the Antheringer Au for an allegedly overpriced €37.3 million, including large quantities of waste. What will happen to this waste now? Does it have to be removed and what further costs will the state of Salzburg incur as a result?", Maurer wants to know .

Greens demand care and transparency
Club leader Martina Berthold emphasizes that the Greens stand by the Antheringer Au, but calls for comprehensible, open processes: "We have made it clear from the start: we stand by the renaturation of the Antheringer Au. It is an important project for nature conservation, flood protection and the quality of life of the people of Salzburg. For us, however, there is also no question that clean politics and a clean environment must go hand in hand. Above all, such large renaturation projects must be handled with the utmost care and transparency."

Surprise at the state
Provincial councillor Daniela Gutschi (VP) cannot understand the criticism: "None of the well-founded expert opinions from many areas and none of the almost 50 pages of counterstatement were taken into account. In addition, there are allegations such as that the state would have paid the seller's taxes, despite repeated refutation of this massive accusation. It is a shame that the State Court of Audit negates the facts and expert opinions."

"One-sided and tendentious"
Markus Graggaber, Head of the Nature and Environmental Protection Department at the Province of Salzburg, has taken a close look at the final report and is also surprised. "We had to write almost 50 pages of counterstatement to the raw report because so many corrections had to be made. In many cases, the raw report presented the facts in a one-sided and biased way. Numerous experts from the state and external experts also had their say in the special state parliament and uncovered the errors in the raw report. The fact that none of this has now been taken into account in the final report is more than incomprehensible - even for our experts in the state service, who have implemented the project with passion and professionalism from the very beginning."