One is very satisfied, the other is extremely frustrated. And both are about money. That is a very short and simple summary of this week’s news in Drenthe.
One: “Disappointing and frustrating that entire areas in this country count less than other areas.” And the other: “I am very satisfied with how we are doing now. We are now reaping the benefits of what we have set in motion.”
One is Nelleke Vedelaar, provincial administrator of Drenthe. She finds it disconcerting that almost nothing of the 7.5 billion euros that the cabinet will spend on roads and rail will go to Drenthe. So no money to speed up the Groningen-Assen-Randstad railway line, no money for the Lower Saxony line and no money to solve the worst problems on the track between Meppel and Zwolle.
The other is Erik van Engelen, director of Wildlands in Emmen. He does have cause for joy. The animal park announced this week that it made a profit of 1.3 million euros last year. And the results for this year also look good so far, he believes: “What I can say about that is that we are doing very well on budget, both in terms of visitor numbers and turnover.”
But of course there was much more news this week in Drenthe. From cows to World War II explosives. A brief overview can be seen in the video below.