The decision enables the construction of a facility in Vienna’s twelfth district, currently called “Kaserne Meidling”, as Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) announced in the press foyer following the government meeting. The Security center will house large units such as the State Security Intelligence Directorate and the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Video: The statement from Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP)
There are also the Federal Office for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption, the Digital Services Directorate, Cobra Vienna and units for combating cybercrime. A company kindergarten will also be established at the location. By the Security center Karner is pleased that five locations will become one. This will make you more efficient and powerful.
Construction will begin next year
It will take some time until it is realized. According to the Interior Minister, construction is scheduled to begin in 2025. The implementation will then take six to seven years, and the move will take place in stages. Karner’s thanks went not only to the city of Vienna but also to the Ministry of Defense. Because that Security center can only arise at the Meidling location through a restructuring of the Federal Army properties.
It was essentially decided today that the Ministry of Defense can hand over the relevant area to the federal real estate company. This in turn is then rented to the Ministry of the Interior. This means that nothing stands in the way of implementation.
Part of the “Meidlinger Kaserne” is sold
Specifically, it is regarding the military part of the “Meidlinger Kaserne”, also known as the Heckenast Burian command building. A total of four hectares of the barracks, which are no longer needed for military purposes, are to be sold to the federal real estate company. According to the Ministry of Defense, the employees of the Federal Army were informed of this project in advance and will move to new locations at the end of 2024.
Modernization of additional locations
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) said in a press release that the proceeds will be used to modernize additional locations in Vienna. A total of 47.7 million euros, which will be additionally available through the sale, will be incorporated into future infrastructure planning as part of the “Reconstruction Plan 2032” and used for other Federal Army properties. Among other things, investments are being made in the accommodation buildings of the Maria Theresien barracks, in the modernization of the army hospital in the Van Swieten barracks and in the new construction of the army logistics school in the Vega-Payer-Weyprecht barracks.
