“Where should I go to get rid of a swarm of bees and how much would it cost?” (Enquiry from a garden-owner logged in the online guestbook of Ludwigsfelde)
We don’t know if the lady got rid of her unwanted swarm of bees. But in all probability she did. Because Heinrich Scholl, the mayor of Ludwigsfelde, is a man with a ready answer to most problems. An engineer by profession, problem-solving is his trade. Unlike a lot of bureaucrats now involved in government. Heinrich Scholl even dreams up solutions to issues and concerns that nobody has raised so far. “Far-sighted local government” he calls it and it is a formula that has taken him from strength to strength.
Alone the three major concerns located in the town – DaimlerChrysler, MTU and Thyssen Umformtechnik –, have a combined payroll of around 3.000 employees. And that is not counting some 600 small and medium-sized businesses that have set up shop in the three large business parks the town now offers.
Yet in the beginning the future looked anything else but rosy for Ludwigsfelde. The town was first granted municipal rights as late as 1965. And the first effect of German Reunification was to send it into an economic downturn – despite its long tradition as a seat of the automotive industry. Yet Ludwigsfelde was able to reverse the trend with canny leverage of its two key locational advantages – the excellent direct transport connection to the A 10 motorway “Berliner Ring” and a highly qualified professional workforce. Another not inconsiderable advantage was the zest and dedication of the local government authorities which in Ludwigsfelde view themselves first and foremost as service-providers for citizens and industry alike.
As mayor Scholl explains, “Creating good conditions to attract new business is just one side of the coin. We also want to ensure that businesses moving to Ludwigsfelde will find the right conditions to underpin their long-term economic prosperity.”
That is why prospective companies will find more than just an empty site where they can build a factory in the town’s three business parks. The Brandenburg Park with its landscape green expanses, lakes and sculptures is a case in point. Such a setting is ideal for enhancing a company’s prestige and standing as well as being a production zone. The ERDF has invested Euro 4.1 million in a major road transport development programme, in particular for the A 10 and B 101 junctions. An overhaul that has paid off for the region, attracting the interest of logistics contractors like Kühne&Nagel and Friedrich Schulz.
The latest newcomer to the region is Volkswagen which is building its “Original Spare Parts Logistics Center” in Ludwigsfelde. The futuristic prototype they are planning here will serve as a blueprint for all further VW logistics points.
These days more than 10.000 people have found employment in Ludwigsfelde. And there are no signs that the last chapter in the success story of “LU” – as the towns’ 25.000 inhabitants affectionately call it – has been written.
Heinrich Scholl, the mayor of Ludwigsfelde
