The Berlin ePrix 2016 has been officially confirmed by the FIA Formula E Championship earlier this week but the event is still awaiting the official approval from the ministries in charge.

As e-racing.net reported yesterday, the Berlin ePrix 2016 has to deal with a political front that is speaking out against the event’s new location. As the new track is located in both Mitte and Kreuzberg, the borough ministers of the two districts both voiced their opinion on the all-electric race on Karl-Marx-Allee. Speaking exclusively to e-racing.net, Monika Herrmann (borough minister of Friedrichshain) said: “My main concern is the location – I personally think it is utterly wrong to host a car race in the densely populated city centre. Fine particles, noise, safety hazards and roadblocks are consequences of the event that we definitely do not need in the city centre.”Christian Hanke, borough minister of Mitte, also voiced his dislike of the event.

The political resistance of two local politicians might not seem like such a big hurdle to take at first sight, but as the Berlin ePrix 2016 is still not home and dry, any political dismissal might still interfere with the event. The necessary resurfacing of parts of the new track adds to the problem as the concerned district usually has a saying in the matter. But as Karl-Marx-Allee is part of the superordinate road network of Germany’s capital city, the Verkehrslenkung (routing ministry) and federal state government should the responsibility.

As Berlin’s federal state government is completely behind the Berlin ePrix and its new location, it seems like only a matter of time until the event is officially approved. Yet the decision is not up to the federal state government as approval by the Verkehrslenkung is needed. Talking to e-racing.net, the official spokesperson of the senate department for city development and environment, Petra Rohland, said:

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Berlin is still interested in ensuring that the event will go ahead as planned. Therefore the efforts to find the right location for the race go into said direction. While we did not receive an official refusal of the borough ministers, we know there are justified concerns but we are discussing those.”[/pullquote]

While the lines of communication to settle the disputes with the districts administrations are open, the federal state government also needs to work closely with the Verkehrslenkung. The official approval depends on their decision, as Rohland told us:

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The approval of the Verkehrslenkung is still not in sight. The duration of the approval process depends on the kind of proposal issued. At the moment, we can simply not provide an official statement on when a final decision will be reached.”[/pullquote]

While all Formula E fans still have to wait for official approval of the event, the federal state government is highly optimistic that there will not be any problems with the event going ahead as planned. The fact that tickets are already being sold underlines the government’s sanguine approach.