Utility companies will be responsible for permanent recovery after work (Antwerp)
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Antwerp Alderman for Public Domain Erica Caluwaerts (Open Vld) said this in response to questions from municipal councilors Joris Giebens (Green) and Claude Marinower (Open Vld). She will present her plan to the council of aldermen this Friday, but already gave some guidelines to the council committee on Tuesday evening. The questions came from work by utility companies in the Nationalestraat. Both the entrepreneurs’ organization NSZ complained about the poor finish. Something that causes resentment throughout the city.
Antwerp N-VA municipal councilor and chairman of the utility company Water-Link André Gantman effects on these complaints. He said that the utility companies would have nothing, but that this is not allowed by the city of Antwerp. They may temporarily repair the road surface. The restoration would then be done by the city because it has the right knowledge to do it.
The new plan for ships Caluwaerts is now changing that.
“It was then alderman Ludo Van Campenhout (N-VA) who established the definitive and definitive recovery scheme around the provisional and final recovery,” says Caluwaerts. “We will come back to that now. There will be a recovery book in which nut companies see how public domain should be developed after works. Responsibility must be clearly defined. It will be the utility companies that will bring everything back to its original state. The control hierarchy is done by the city. If the final repair takes too long because they have not been performed properly, the city of Antwerp will do it itself, but at the expense of the utility companies.”
There is one exception. In the case of natural stone, the city of Antwerp will carry out the final repair because utility companies do not have this material in stock.
“I was a bit shocked”
Van Water-Link chairman Gantman raised questions not only with the opposition party Groen, but also with coalition partner Open Vld. Former alderman of Public Domain Claude Marinower (Open Vld) was sharp for his colleague in the city council.
“I was a bit shocked by the in the article,” says Marinower. “When I was still a ship, I did not receive any signal from Water-Link on this subject. I also found it remarkable that the chairman said that he had already carried out work without a permit and was willing to take the GAS fine on top of that. What signal does he give?”
Marinower was credited by his successor Caluwaerts. She says she is over the show.
“Even the moment the chairman of Water-Link does this, mine frowns,” the ships say. “I was rolling out a new strategy that is actually ready. This had already been discussed with members of the Council of Aldermen and checked with a number of utility companies.”
Gantman is not a member of the council committee of aldermen Caluwaerts and was therefore not present during this debate.