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Nine years late and $4 billion over budget, the airport is already outdated. Repeated blunders dented the image of German efficiency, but the “poor but sexy” capital has long been a bit different. [...]
Under construction for 14 years, the airport is nine years past its original opening date and more than $4 billion over budget. Every month, it costs several million dollars just to keep the unused airport running.
— The New York Times
Katrin Bennhold, The New York Times’s Berlin bureau chief, takes a look back at the unbelievable saga of the long-awaited and — nine years behind schedule — now finally opened Berlin-Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport. "The foundations of the terminal were already laid when it emerged... View full entry
The architecture and engineering teams fought to keep up. As the terminal ballooned from 200,000 to 340,000 square meters (dwarfing Frankfurt’s 240,000 and just shy of Heathrow Terminal 5’s 353,000), they parceled out the work to seven contractors. That soon grew to 35, and they brought in hundreds of subcontractors, says Delius. [...]
At the very moment Merkel and her allies are hectoring the Greeks about their profligacy, the airport’s cost, borne by taxpayers, has tripled to €5.4 billion.
— bloomberg.com
