“Not everything is going well yet and we are not running away from that.” The cabinet writes this in a response to the critical letter from the Groningen Soil Movement (GBB).
The GBB placed the letter as a full-page advertisement in a number of national newspapers this morning. The letter was addressed to Prime Minister Schoof, but he did not respond personally to the criticism. It is a written response from the cabinet as a whole.
The GBB states in the letter that tens of thousands of Groningen residents are still waiting for damage repairs and reinforcement of their homes. According to the action group, little has come of the intention to improve the handling. According to them, this should go better this year.
“The people at NCG, the Groningen Mining Damage Institute and the Ministry of the Interior are working hard to make damage handling and reinforcement milder, easier and more humane. But the work is not finished yet and not everything is going well. We are not anticipating that. away,” the cabinet writes.
The government says that the number of families waiting for a safe home must be reduced to zero as quickly as possible. The deadline for this was 2028, but it was already known that this would not be possible for some of the houses. “The vast majority will be safe,” the response states.
The written statement concludes with the words that the cabinet wants to make decisions ‘not about, but with Groningen residents, and also with the Groningen Soil Movement’. “The State Secretary for Groningen Recovery (Eddie van Marum, ed.) is and will continue to talk to them to ensure that everyone in the earthquake area can live in a safe, damage-free and insulated house.”