Around 150 municipal councillors and colleges from the Metropolitan Region (MRE) met on Wednesday evening, to be updated on the €2.7 billion invested in the region. Of this, €1.5 billion comes from the state. Eindhoven mayor and chairman of Brainport Foundation Jeroen Dijsselbloem looked back on how the agreements came about as well as looking ahead.
“We already had an enormous housing challenge,” Dijsselbloem began. “It was clear that something must be done about accessibility. But then the ASML announcement that they are facing the biggest expansion investment in their existence added to it. They want to double the production facility in Veldhoven, much earlier than thought. We assumed that 70,000 jobs and 60,000 houses would be added in the region, but ASML’s plans preponed everything.”
Those announcements startled administrators in The Hague, who then wanted to sit down with ASML. Dijsselbloem himself made sure the region was also involved in the talks. “If that expansion is to happen here – and we welcome that – we have to be involved in those talks, and we succeeded,” Dijsselbloem said with satisfaction.
The mayor still mentioned in the media that € 5 to 8 billion is needed for ASML’s said expansion, but is not disappointed that those amounts were not achieved.
Two restrictions
“Two restrictions were mentioned from the cabinet. The first was the caretaker status: they cannot make such long-term agreements. If we are talking 2040, we also have to talk to the next cabinet. Then it is also logical to talk about other amounts. The second constraint is: is it feasible? After all, you won’t get more than the current amount spent. That is what the cabinet said and I think they are right in both cases.”
Brackets
Nevertheless, Dijsselbloem is enthusiastic about the agreements made. “There are hooks in it for the future, to come back to the table later to talk further with the cabinet about issues that are not worked out now,” he said.
“It is a great task but also a crazy job to get everything together about the ambitions we have. To build fast enough and to be able to realise the infrastructure. We are therefore also going to do the implementation jointly with the state. We answered their concerns about feasibility with: come and help us,” Dijsselbloem said.
Source Studio040
Translated by Chaitali Sengupta. She also gives online INBURGERING classes.
