On Friday, Luxembourg's Minister of Housing, Maggy Nagel, and François Bausch, Minister of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, announced details of the new housing strategy for Kirchberg, including transport connectivity.
Currently there are 1,400 private dwellings in Kirchberg, primarily at the north-east; in the future, there will be another 6,500, located mainly in the centre and to both sides of the Ave J.F. Kennedy. This means that Kirchberg will be the home to around 15,000 residents. The Kirchberg plan will ensure that one sixth of the total area is reserved for green spaces and parks.
The current real estate price for Kirchberg is €7,150 per m2 (including VAT). The government will ensure affordable housing at a fixed price of €4,200 per m2 (VAT included), i.e. 40% under current prices, on a 99 year lease and reserved for those who do not have a second dwelling and who work in Luxembourg city (including Kirchberg).
In addition, 50% of the future Kirchberg dwellings will be reserved as Subsidised Housing for those entitled to the "Aides aux Logements" at a price of €3,250 per m2 (VAT included), with similar conditions to above.
These will be located at the PAP Quartier du Kiem (820 - 50% affordable housing and 50% subsidised housing); PAP Réimerwee (560 - 30% affordable housing and 70% subsidised housing); PAP J.F.K. Sud, to the east of Place de l'Europe (260 - 30% affordable housing and 70% subsidised housing). These will be built between 2015 and 2020.
All the relevant land is state-owned which means that this can be freed up immediately.
This in itself will require a transport strategy. In autumn 2017 a tram-train connection at Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg will start to operate. The tram will have a capacity of 10,000 passengers per hour compared to the current capacity of 2,500 passengers per hour by bus, with trams running every 3 minutes. Each tram will have a capacity of 450 passengers and the tram line will operate 32 trams. The expected number of passengers per day will be 110,000.
