The Federal Council announced in the spring that it would also support the construction of sports facilities in the coming years. For the years 2022 to 2027, he is earmarking 67 million francs for this.
The basis for the financing is the national sports facility concept (Nasak). It is currently the fifth program. With these financial aid, the federal government promotes both competitive and youth and mass sports.
For example, the infrastructure in snow sports is to be modernized. In addition, various multi-sport sports centers are to be funded. For water sports, ball sports, swimming, gymnastics and lawn sports, the Federal Council is applying to Parliament for various loan commitments.
More flexibility
The Committee on Science, Education and Culture of the Council of States (WBK-S) welcomed this thrust and unanimously applied for approval of the Federal Council’s submission, as spokesman Hannes Germann (SVP / SH) said on Thursday. “The federal government can achieve a lot with it.” In the opinion of the Council of States, however, the financial aid should be increased.
Without a dissenting vote, the small chamber spoke an additional 2 million francs for a swimming pool in Bern, 1.5 million francs for a floorball hall in Schiers GR and 2 million francs for a sports center in Kerenzerberg GL. In addition, it increased the credit for “various other sports facilities of national importance” from CHF 7.67 million to CHF 15 million.
In addition, the Council of States decided that the commitment credits for projects that are not implemented can be used for alternative projects – also for other purposes. According to Germann, this should make the granting of loans more flexible and avoid bridging financing for urgent projects.
In the overall vote, the Council of States accepted the proposal unanimously. This now goes to the National Council.
Promote popular sport
The federal government has been supporting the construction of sports facilities of national importance with financial aid since 1998; Parliament has approved a total of CHF 170 million so far. 26.5 million francs of this was not used.
The federal government contributes between 5 and 25 percent of the construction costs for each installation or project. On average, grants amounted to around 10 percent of the eligible costs of an investment. This triggered a total investment volume of around 1.7 billion Swiss francs with the projects implemented so far.
The need for financial resources is great, as a report from 2019 ordered by the Council of States shows. According to estimates, the required investment volume for the next five to ten years will be between 750 million and 1.5 billion francs. The reason for the move was the Federal Council’s announcement that it wanted to stop funding sports facilities. He justified this intention at the time with the tense financial situation of the federal government.
The pressure from parliament had an effect: “A subsidiary commitment by the federal government will also be necessary in the future in order to strengthen Switzerland’s competitiveness in sport and in hosting major international events,” the Federal Council announced in July 2019. (sda)
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