The two boats where the municipality of Meppel accommodates refugees will both leave at the end of next month. In its place will be one larger boat, where Meppel will receive refugees for the next two years.
The contract with the COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) for both boats expires at the end of next month. “The boats have to go anyway,” says Mayor Richard Korteland. “They are due for an inspection and maintenance.” Since 2021, the first boat with refugees has been moored in Meppel, at the fire station. A year later a second boat was added, at the Sethehaven.
98 refugees are accommodated on the boat at the fire station, 125 at the Sethehaven.
Meppel does not stop receiving refugees. A new boat will be moored at the same location near the Sethehaven on which refugees will be accommodated. “It’s the same kind of cruise ship, but bigger.” 192 refugees can be accommodated there.
The mayor also points to the dispersal law that recently came into effect. This law states how many refugees the provinces and municipalities must accept. For Drenthe this concerns 2,691 reception places for asylum seekers, and for Meppel it concerns 193.
“With the new boat, we are just one shelter short of complying with the law. So we are going to see how we can comply with that,” says Korteland. The new boat will remain in place for at least two years. Local residents, and mainly the surrounding businesses, have been informed.
The municipality accommodates 358 Ukrainian refugees in the former hospital of Isala. These do not count towards the distribution law.