And there was something else. The widening of the N34 had already started before the lake was deepened, because of objections to deepening. And so the province had to buy sand elsewhere. It led to a bill of five million euros extra. Eventually the lake could be deepened, but the province no longer needed all that sand. That sand was then sold for a much lower price.
Provincial administrator Nelleke Vedelaar talks about the problems in an earlier interview with RTV Drenthe. This video was made before the investigation was completed.