Overview

• The federal government has maintained a €777 million budget for the expansion, comprising €637 million in building costs and a €140 million risk surcharge.
• Bund der Steuerzahler president Reiner Holznagel labeled the more than €1.3 million cost per workplace “record-suspect” and criticized growing civil service staffing.
• Bundesrechnungshof audits warn that the planned 1 050 workstations will exceed current needs by about 266 desks due to overdimensioned office planning.
• Unnamed Chancellery insiders project total costs will climb to at least €1 billion by completion, a figure government spokespeople dispute.
• Critics call for shuttering the remaining Bonn offices and relocating staff to Berlin to offset further budget overruns.