Hamburg Metropolitan Region development funds
The development funds of Hamburg Metropolitan Region are the most crucial finance instruments of regional cooperation in the Metropolitan Region. They were set up more than 45 years ago and carried forward at the end of 2005 for future years under the terms of a treaty between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.
Hamburg Metropolitan Region – development funds
The development funds support structural improvements and development in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Funding guidelines set out the main focus of subsidies:
- Strengthening the Metropolitan Region’s “international competitiveness” (e.g. projects in economic development, tourism and culture, including marketing);
- Public services (particularly inter-district solutions for technical infrastructure and for interlinking public transport);
- Spatial structure and land use management (e.g. settlement and zoning plans, ecosystems);
The funds support communal schemes to the tune of almost EUR 3m annually – primarily through investment in infrastructure, but also, in special cases, in regional management structures related to implementation of communal lead projects in the Metropolitan Region. By combining applicant bodies’ own funds with external funding from the federal states, federal government or EU subsidy sources, much larger investments can be undertaken.
