The final price tag of 51 million euros for building the ice skating rink and a large swimming pool was 20 million euros higher than originally predicted.
Translation by Traci White
RTV Drenthe reports that the municipal council will discuss the situation behind closed doors on the 27th of August: the council has already invested 400,000 euros in the plans, and had earmarked 20 million euros in total. Dagblad van het Noorden writes that the city was already facing a 9-million-euro deficit in 2018, so the investment in the plans were especially controversial. The province had agreed to set aside 5 million euros.
The plans have existed in some form since 2015. Back in October of 2018, following the release of a critical report which predicted that the costs would be higher than anticipated, Hoogeveen already indicated that they would not be able to meet a deadline 31 December 2019 to complete the facility.
Calling off the plans means that the province will continue to go without an indoor ice skating facility for the foreseeable future, and De Dolfijn swimming pool will be re-evaluated: current plans for the pool were meant to include new construction in the year 2022 or 2023.
Hoogeveen’s withdrawal means that Assen is the only other city in the province of Drenthe that has vied to build a new athletic facility. Hoogeveen was the first city to submit a plan to build a new skating complex in 2017, but following the report, Assen representatives suggested the city could use funding to add on to an existing winter sport facility called Ice World, but there have not been any concrete developments since then.
