Historic buyback: Merzenich buys ghost village Bürgewald

The village of Bürgewald, formerly Alt-Morschenich, lies on the edge of the Hambach open-cast mine. In future, the village of Morschenich-Alt will be called Bürgewald. The change has to do with the early phase-out of lignite mining.

Photo: Brigitte Werner auf Pixabay

In an unprecedented move, the German municipality of Merzenich has bought back the empty village of Bürgewald, formerly Morschenich, from the energy company RWE for 36.8 million euros. The village is located in the Rhenish lignite mining area, a region known for its huge open-cast mines. The buy-back was made possible by the Coal Regions Investment Act, which promotes structural change in former coal-mining regions.

The planned demolition of the village was halted by the early phase-out of coal in Germany, a move that symbolises the change in German energy policy. Mayor Georg Gelhausen (CDU) sees the takeover as the start of a sustainable transformation: Bürgewald is to become a climate-friendly showcase project. A master plan for future development is to be drawn up within the next 15 months. The 'place of the future' will then be created.

The buy-back is a unique process that has no precedent in local government. The land will remain in the ownership of the municipality, which intends to generate income from the leasehold. Reconstruction could begin in just one and a half years