The city of Zurich wants to build a refugee village on the Hardturm site – TOP ONLINE
It will be years before the first ball rolls in the new Hardturm Stadium. The start of construction is still being delayed by languages, an exact date has not been set. At the same time, the city of Zurich is confronted with increasing numbers of refugees.
These people are not only from Ukraine. Kurds and Afghans are also increasingly fleeing. There are also people from North Africa and the Middle East who are suffering from poverty because of the sharp rise in wheat prices caused by the Ukraine war. The federal asylum centers are already overcrowded.
Zurich will meet humanitarian standards
There are currently several places for refugees in the city of Zurich. However, the city council wants to create new places in advance in order to be prepared for further increasing numbers. As the Zurich City Council announced, the Hardturm area would be the best location for this. Accommodation for up to 320 refugees could be set up there for a limited period of time, which would meet internationally recognized humanitarian standards.
According to the city, the construction of such a refugee village would take six months and could cost up to 17 million francs. So that construction can start as quickly as possible, the city council is now already submitting the building application. The accommodation would be operated at most until the construction work for the new stadium with residential buildings would begin.
The city council emphasized that the construction of the stadium would not be delayed further because of the refugee village. The village would be run by the Zurich AOZ asylum organization. A school is planned directly on site on the Hardturm.
Criticism of container village in Bern
In front of the city of Zurich, the canton of Berne already relied on a temporary village to accommodate refugees. The container village on the Viererfeld in the north of the city of Bern has up to 1000 spaces, but is far larger than the possible village on the Zurich Hardturm.
In July, the first refugees moved into the Bern containers. However, criticism quickly arose because the minimum humanitarian standards were not being met there. For example, there is not enough living space per person. The arrangement of the containers was also criticized because they are in rows like military barracks.