Meeting of the municipal council of 25 May 2020

Question posed by Héloïse Bock

Whilst construction projects are, of course, necessary, it is well known that works for the tram line and other projects across the city are causing a certain degree of inconvenience (to say the least) to residents, businesses and visitors.
With a view to introducing measures to continuously improve quality of life for everyone, I would like to ask the following questions:

1. Accelerating progress on construction projects through the introduction of shift work

• When, and on which projects, do the contractors for the City's construction projects work in shifts?
• Has this way of working been implemented 1. for the tram works in Kirchberg, and/or 2. in the new Cloche d'Or district?
• Has this approach, which would help speed up the progress of the works, also been applied in other places? If so, where, and under what conditions (two or three shifts)?

2. Works on Saturdays

• When, and on which sites, do the contractors for the City's construction projects work on Saturdays?
• Under what conditions are works carried out on these days (continuous work, on a one-off basis, etc.)?

3. Quick roll-out of a mobile works team: monitoring of cleanliness, access to and visibility of local businesses, and appropriate diversions, for both traffic and pedestrians

• Is it feasible to set up a mobile, municipal team with enough staff to monitor cleanliness, perform cleaning operations and ensure that the appropriate regulations are being complied with, while at the same time ensuring that contractors are taking into account the needs of users and businesses when diverting vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle traffic?
  The purpose of such a team would be to make regular visits to work sites throughout the city, to:
  1. perform timely, real-time checks to ensure compliance with relevant work-site conditions, and also
  2. maintain constant and proactive contact with users and businesses to document their concerns so that they can quickly respond to any issues, arrange cleaning operations or have sites and diversions adapted (notably pedestrian diversions) to minimise any problems resulting from the works.
  
  The team should ensure they are clearly visible (e.g. by wearing a fluorescent jacket bearing the City of Luxembourg logo) so that passers-by are aware of their presence and can approach them in the street about any issues. More generally, such a team could also submit proposals on how to improve transport solutions – and particularly active travel – on the basis of their day-to-day observations.
  
  It would be important for such a mobile works team to systematically document all requests and concerns, as well as all follow-up actions.
  That way, the municipal departments would be able to reach out to and maintain permanent contact with residents, businesses and visitors and take an even more proactive role in preventing difficulties from arising.

Response provided by Simone Beissel and Lydie Polfer

Alderwoman Beissel pointed out that, following the resumption of work in the construction sector (20 April), construction businesses are currently struggling to deal with the sheer volume of work, especially as some of their employees are still absent.

With respect to shift work, the Service Coordination des chantiers – SERCO (Work Site Coordination Department) advises the college of aldermen on the most appropriate work-organisation system for each site, and the Labour Code (Code du travail) stipulates that no worker may work more than ten hours a day and 48 hours a week. As such, the following work-organisation systems are feasible:

• The use of several teams working in parallel at different sites, on the same shift (e.g. for major infrastructure work).
• Work using a single shift, usually working for 8 hours a day, between 7:00 and 16:00.
• Work using 1.5-shift system (i.e. where two shifts overlap, and usually between 7:00 and 19:00); this system is interesting in residential areas, since disruption arising from the works will have stopped by the time residents return home in the evening.
• Work using a two-shift system (from 7:00 to 22:00), where the time gain compared to the single-shift system is only 30–35% (owing to the more complex logistics for the company, and the fact that the municipal administration cannot adopt the same system.
• Saturday work (Saturday being a working day, though it is up to each business to decide whether, and to what extent, work will be done on a Saturday).
• Sunday work (for which, according to the Labour Code, a permit is not required, but the Inspection du Travail et des Mines (Inspectorate of Labour and Mines) must be informed).
• Overnight work (between 22:00 and 7:00). This system is rarely used (mainly to prevent disruption to traffic). A permit must be obtained from the Ministry of the Environment (Ministère de l’environnement), based on a noise study).
• Work on public holidays. This also requires a permit, which must obtained from the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines. Permits may be granted, for example, for works carried out in schools, or when the works are deemed urgent by the relevant commission.

Works using the two-shift system have been carried out, for example, on Rue Hollerich and Place de la Gare (City of Luxembourg projects), and on Place François-Joseph Dargent (Creos project). The City of Luxembourg only occasionally carries out weekend or overnight work, e.g. when infrastructure work needs to be done on a very busy road, or when a new road surface is laid.
During SERCO projects, works are supervised by a project coordinator, with the assistance of a health & safety officer for mobile work sites, and the Service Circulation (Traffic Department). The project coordinator is in permanent contact with local residents and businesses, and serves as a single point of contact for any questions and complaints. Residents and businesses may also reach out to the construction mediators. Thus, the municipal departments ensure that works are subject to effective oversight.
With respect to the proposal to set up a mobile works team, it should be pointed out that the Service Circulation monitors the permits it issues (for roadworks, and the relevant traffic regulations). The City also has a team of construction mediators, who are part of the Service Communication et relations publiques (Communication and Public Relations Department), and are very familiar with the workings of the municipal administration, meaning that they can forward complaints and information requests to the relevant people. They are also well placed for external communications.

As to the question regarding the organisation of work for the tram line, Luxtram makes use of all the aforementioned systems: single-shift, 1.5-shift, 2-shift, and sometimes overnight and weekend work. Luxtram alone decides which system is the most appropriate.
The Administration des Ponts et Chaussées (National Roads Administration) is in charge of road-development and infrastructure works carried out in the new Cloche d'Or district, which were mainly organised using the single-shift system.

Mayor and Chairwoman Lydie Polfer pointed out that the Comité politique (Political Committe) would be meeting the following day in the presence of the Minister for Public Works (Ministre des Travaux Publics) and representatives from Luxtram, and that the future pace of the works for the tram line would be on the agenda at that meeting. Indeed, everyone is eager for the works to progress as quickly as possible, but it must be borne in mind that due to the current crisis, businesses often do not have sufficient numbers of staff to carry on work at the normal pace. They must also comply with the maximum number of working hours stipulated by law.
The way in which public works are carried out may sometimes seem incomprehensible to passers-by, but there are good reasons for doing things in a certain way. For example, the infrastructure works between Place d'Armes and Rue Philippe II and Avenue Monterey had to be suspended because of the COVID-19 crisis, and the trenches had to be filled back in. When work resumed in the construction sector on 20 April, the works continued for a week, and then had to be halted once again because the new water pipes had not been subjected to an initial test, and it would be four days before a new test could be carried out. Hence, things may not always proceed as expected, but the municipal administration always undertakes to ensure that works are carried out as best they can, and with optimal communication.

Question posed by Linda Gaasch

The Recycling Centre was closed during the initial phase of lockdown. It reopened on 20 April, but with reduced opening hours (10:00 to 16:00). These reduced opening hours, plus the public-health guidelines that need to observed, mean that there are long queues to get into the Recycling Centre. With this in mind, I would like to put the following urgent questions to the college of aldermen:

• What are the peak and trough times at the Recycling Centre?
• Might there be the possibility of indicating current waiting times and peak and trough times on the website or other media?
• When does the college of aldermen expect to be able to return to normal, pre-crisis opening hours (7:00–19:30, instead of 10:00–16:00)?

Response provided by Patrick Goldschmidt

Alderman Goldschmidt replied that, in principle, pedestrians and cyclists are allowed to enter the Recycling Centre. It is possible that in certain cases, someone queuing in their car may have got out to drop off their waste on foot, and was refused entry and asked to go back to their car and wait their turn.

Closing the Recycling Centre was one of the measures introduced due to the COVID-19 crisis. A number of staff from the Service Hygiène (Sanitation Department) have had to stay at home because they belong to one of the vulnerable groups, or to care for their children, meaning that waste collections have had to be organised with reduced staffing levels. In view of the lockdown, it would not have made sense to maintain the Recycling Centre's normal opening hours.
Since reopening, the Recycling Centre has been operating initially for 30 hours a week (Monday to Friday), and is now open on Saturdays as well. In addition, owing to the additional safety measures in place, fewer people than normal are currently allowed in the Recycling Centre at any one time.
At the same time, demand is extremely high at present. The centre is designed to handle only 288 users per day, but currently, is catering for between 300 and 450 visitor each day. The Recycling Centre is extremely busy on a near constant basis, so there is no possibility of informing the public of times when there are likely to be fewer people. Current waiting times are between 20 and 40 minutes.
The alderman recommends that residents order bins or paper and glass, given that the municipal administration collects these recyclable materials from the curbside on a weekly basis. Collections of green waste have also resumed, and the authorities are doing their utmost to provide citizens with the best possible service with the resources at their disposal.