Citizens or municipalities where drug waste is dumped on their land can now largely recover the damage from the government. The cabinet announced on Friday that landowners will be reimbursed up to 200,000 euros from next year. Such an enormous amount of drug waste has been dumped in three places in Brabant that even more money is going there.
If drug waste is currently dumped, the landowners often bear the brunt of the costs. Although the previous cabinet came up with a subsidy pot for the problem, the victims will receive only 25,000 euros at most. While the actual costs are almost always much, much higher. With the new scheme, that amount will therefore be increased to 200,000 euros.
Brabant remains the leader
Such an arrangement is desperately needed. Because although the number of finds has fallen in recent years, Brabant remains the leader when it comes to drug production. In three places in our province, so much drug waste was dumped that the 200,000 euros is not enough.
- In the first place it concerns the Brabantse Wal in Halsteren. A drug pit was discovered there in March last year, where criminals had been discharging waste for years. About 2,500 cubic meters of soil in the nature reserve became contaminated. The cleanup costs can run up to a few million.
- A plot in Rijsbergen will also receive higher compensation. A large amount of drug waste was found there a year ago on the ground of 90-year-old Toon Francken. About 20,000 cubic meters of groundwater became heavily polluted, and the clean-up costs are in the millions.
- Finally, extra money is made available for a field in Neerkant. An amphetamine lab was rolled up there in February last year, alongside which thousands of liters of drug waste had been discharged. It is still unclear how much it will cost to clean the ground here.
Deputy Spierings of the province is happy that the central government is helping to clean up the contaminated pieces of land. Meanwhile, the province is doing everything it can to recover the damage from the perpetrators.
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