How to Estimate Costs due to Contaminated Sites: A Prognostic Method to Permit Initial Risk Considerations for Industrial Enterprises and Real Estate in the East German Länder

Facing the task of having to convert a number of well over 10 000 former nationally owned firms and real estate to forms of private ownership, the Treuhandanstalt was at the same time compelled to create an approach that was as realistic as possible to permit an evaluation of possible risks due to contaminated sites* and thus to arrive at a professionally sound opinion about possibly justified costs of an elimination of dangerous subsurface contamination that would have to be taken into account in the process of privatization.