The municipality of Echternach has been reorganising the area surrounding the former local bus station for some time. Aside from a school, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, and a public car park, the district is also set to receive its own central heating plant.
However, on Friday, the Nature Administration decided to halt operations at the construction site of the new plant after three trees were cut down without permission.
It has now also been revealed that the site lacked authorisation from the Water Management Authority, which means that construction, underway since mid June, started illegally.
Furthermore, the municipal authorisation to start construction was only issued on 1 July, and detailed plans for the building were allegedly never filed.
On 18 July, municipal councillor Carole Zeimetz from the Greens had requested to know from the mayor of Mersch why construction already started, to which Yves Wengler responded that all necessary authorisations were given.
However, according to the Water Management Authority, they never provided permission to the project since they were not informed of the nature of the plant. As the area is considered at risk of flooding, special permission for a central heating plant would have been necessary.
