wolfgang Porsche (82) A step closer to his dream of the underground car park in Salzburg, Austria: a city committee has now agreed to the controversial construction project in the center of the city. A committee of the municipal council, which is responsible for spatial planning, approved a planned underground car park under the property of the Porsche supervisory board. The project also includes a 500 -meter -long private tunnel, which is to be drilled into the Kapuzinerberg as an access.
Porsche has a property on the Kapuzinerberg, in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sister Nannerl once gave piano lessons. Around 100 years ago, the author Stefan Zweig (“Chess Novel”) lived there. Porsche is now planning an underground car park including a private tunnel. The above -ground access road is considered narrow and impractical.
In April, activists protested the tunnel. More than 19,000 people have signed a petition against the construction. This speaks of a “special treatment for super rich” and a “symbol of social injustice”.
Greens and Communists rejected the decision. They argued that the tunnel must also be approved in this case, even if this was usually not necessary for access routes. The Social Democratic SPÖ, the conservative ÖVP and the right FPÖ approved the project without separate testing of the tunnel.
Decision not yet final
However, the project is still not in dry cloths: the city’s decision still has to be presented to the state of Salzburg. Martin Zauner (FPÖ), who is responsible for spatial planning in the state government, has signaled that he is fundamentally positive about the underground access to the historically important villa. “The construction industry is supported, a cultural asset is preserved and all of this is financed purely privately,” he told the “Salzburger Nachrichten”.
Porsche has not yet publicly commented on the matter. He is a grandson of the automotive pioneer Ferdinand Porsche and head of supervisory board of the Porsche Automobil Holding SE and Porsche AG. He also sits on the supervisory boards of Volkswagen and Audi.