Years of discussion Mosque in Bad Godesberg will go ahead

Bad Godesberg · The city council will “shortly” be granting a construction permit for the site on Weststraße. As soon as this is on the table, the association can start redeveloping the former public utility building in Bad Godesberg.

“Marhaban” (welcome) will soon be heard on Weststraße; there is nothing standing in the way of the mosque which is planned for the site. After years of discussion, numerous information evenings and consultations, the city council will give the Moroccan Cultural Association the green light and grant a building permit. As soon as this is on the table, which according to the city council will shortly be the case, the association can start with the conversion of the former public utility building.

This marks the end of a process that began more than three years ago. As reported, the association would like to give up its mosque on Bonner Strasse because there is not enough space there. The mosque and cultural centre are to be newly located on the approximately 2600 m site on Weststraße in the Godesberg-Nord industrial estate. The initial contact with the owner, the SWB (Stadtwerke Bonn, the municipal utilities), took place in April 2015. There then followed sales negotiations, talks with politicians, the city council and entrepreneurs who at first were critical of the settlement on the industrial estate. The preliminary building application was approved in 2017, after which the application for a building permit could be made, and this is finally to be issued by the city council.

Escape and rescue routes under the microscope

But there was still a long process to go through before issuing the building permit. There was still a need for coordination, "above all because of the parking spaces and fire protection", says Markus Schmitz from the municipal press office. But this is now off the table; there are no more open questions. The work with the city council has been very positive, architect Jan van Dorp stresses. The Building Authority had examined the full scope of possibilities in order to ensure a legally compliant building permit. Escape and rescue routes were scrutinised, as well as the parking situation, fire protection and much more.

This has resulted in a plan that has been fine-tuned in some places. The prayer room for men is being built on an 500 m area; they will enter the mosque from the Südstraße. The women, who have a separate entrance, will pray on a 229 m gallery. Offices and rooms for events and training are also included; all rooms are easily accessible to wheelchair users.

The apartments which had been initially planned are not included. And: "There will be no events running in parallel," emphasises van Dorp. This means that there will be no courses of instruction and prayer times or other events whilst the seminars are taking place. Wedding and birthday celebrations or meetings of any other kind will not take place in the prayer rooms.

Increased number of parking spaces for bikes

The outside of the building will only be "optically enhanced”. The escape route on the side will look like a small minaret - but in reality, it is not, van Dorp emphasises. The basement will hardly be used at all. On request, however, it can be used by funeral parlours to wash the dead, explains Mustapha Cadi, second chairman of the association. But this will only happen rarely.

The number of parking spaces for bikes has been increased and there is now room for 54 bicycles on the site. In addition, there are 41 car parking spaces. Access is via Weststraße. According to the mobility concept drawn up by the association and its chairman Said Ajmedar, between 20 and 70 people will visit the mosque during the five daily prayer times, A special feature is the Friday prayer at noon, when the association assumes a full occupancy of the mosque - of the expected 350 visitors, about 310 are from the surrounding area, the rest are from further afield. "Many initially thought we were a supra-regional mosque - but we're not," says Cadi. Most of the visitors came from Bad Godesberg.

Now that everything is cut and dried, the association has begun to collect donations again. A large part of the sum – the purchase and redevelopment costs will reach approximately 2.2 million euro - comes from the 160 members of the association. In addition, donations come from “outside.” “There is no financial sponsor,” stresses Ajmedar. Once the go-ahead has been given, the invitation to tender has been issued and enough specialist companies have been found, it will take nine to twelve months for everything to be ready, estimates van Dorp. Then the door will be open not only to Muslims, but to everyone. Cadi: "We definitely want to maintain regular contact with our neighbours".

(Original text: Ayla Jacob, Translation: Caroline Payne)

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