Money for repairing and reinforcing induced earthquake-damaged homes will come from the state treasury, not the national budget.
OOGTV writes that national coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie have agreed that the treasury should foot the bill for the repairs.
Relying on the treasury will make the process of paying off national debt slower. But the parties see this move as a way to keep the repairs from being used as a political football. Making the treasury the source for covering costs also means that funding will be more or less guaranteed. Decreased gas earnings will have to be compensated for in the national budget.
While the funding is being handled at the national level, locally, RTV Noord reports that the municipalities impacted by the induced quakes are calling for more control in the reinforcement process.
The Groningen Villages Union (Vereniging Groningen Dorpen) and the Groningen Gas Debate (Groninger Gasberaad) want the province to allow the towns themselves take the lead in determining which properties to reinforce and repair. The union also wants the towns to be empowered to come up with their own initiatives to respond to the ongoing quakes. “Municipalities have residents, but provinces don’t”, says Meindert Schollema.
