When the municipalities of Bettendorf, Diekirch, Ettelbruck, Erpeldange-sur-Sûre and Schieren combined to create the “Nordstad” fusion, one of their demands addressed to the government focused on the construction of a new barracks for the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS) to better serve the northern region.
In March 2023, the project was unveiled by then-Minister for Spatial Planning Claude Turmes, with an estimated completion time of around two to three years, meaning it would have been finished by 2026. Now, however, that deadline has been pushed back to 2030.
At the time of the announcement, the CGDIS said the timeline was too unrealistic - a viewpoint shared by then-Minister of the Interior Taina Bofferding. Now, the Ministry of Spatial Planning has revealed that the plot of land designated for the build has been reclassified via a Grand Ducal regulation by way of a land use plan. As part of this procedure, the file has been awaiting a Council of State decision since August. Once this takes place, the procedure will be completed and the land will be reclassified. A number of studies on the land are currently being processed. If the timeline for these studies continues at this pace, planning is expected to be completed in 2026, at which point construction can finally begin. The build itself is expected to take another three to four years.
The search for an appropriate plot dragged from the beginning. Initially, the Nordstad councils favoured a site near the Friedhof roundabout, belonging to the municipality of Diekirch and the government, but the project was vetoed by the Ministry of the Environment. The current plot covers around two hectares of land beside the water reservoir in the ZANO industrial zone.
The Diekirch and Ettelbruck fire brigades are expected to exercise more than a little patience before moving to their new premises, but they are not the only units in need of a new barracks.
In Bettendorf, the existing barracks are only accessible through a road located in a flood zone, which meant that access was blocked during the heavy floods of July 2021. The building itself is relatively old, although it is not yet clear if there are plans to replace it with a new-build, or move it to a new site.
After the 2021 floods, authorities looked at potentially using an old farm track - initially introduced by the CFL to enable farmers to access fields without having to cross the former railway - as a new access point for the barracks. An ongoing study will evaluate whether a new building could be constructed at the existing site. However, if a new building is not possible, authorities will have to seek a new site in Bettendorf itself. The CGDIS has expressed concerns over moving the Bettendorf centre closer to the Diekirch, Reisdorf or Tandel barracks, although concrete plans for such a scenario do not seem to be forthcoming.
