after the Dragon, the city wants to create a “Travel Varan”
Before embarking on this “Travel Varan” project, a pre-study is necessary. The cost of the latter, but also the experience of the Dragon block some elected officials of the opposition.
After its Dragon, the city of Calais wishes to note “the next chapter”. During the city council tuesday eveningNatacha Bouchart, mayor of the city, wanted to continue “the fabulous story initiated with the company La Machine”, with “the manufacture of a second moving machine, that of the Varan de voyage”.
This creation should in particular allow “the project to extend to other districts of the city and tourists to discover the heritage of Calais from an angle that is original to say the least”, insists Pascal Pestre, deputy to the town hall, delegate to the attractiveness of the territory.
“This project is also made to revitalize, as the beach was, Fort-Nieulay, indicated Natacha Bouchart. The dragon will welcome the monitor lizard and send it to this district. Give meaning to this district and carry it to the top”.
For the mayor of Calais, “the dragon is culture and economic development”.
The municipal council adopted Tuesday the principle of a pre-study, necessary for the realization of this project. It must make it possible to “consolidate the main technical characteristics of the machine and its operating conditions”, emphasizes Pascal Pestre. Its cost is “at 273,721 euros excluding taxes, or 328,465.20 [toutes taxes comprises]”.
“A luxury bus”
An amount that goes badly for the elected representatives of the opposition, who largely voted against this deliberation. For Jean-Philippe Lannoy (Respirer Calais), “lower attendance than consumers, [l’]frequent cancellation of trips due to weather or breakdowns (…) the operating cost of more than one million euros per year”, shows that “the Dragon is still far from having proven itself” .
“Economic products are also very uncertain,” he adds.
“This new step seems unnecessary and unreasonable to me”, he insists, after declaring that this machine “which will wander all day in the streets, stuck between the and the red light, will, over time, become nothing more than a luxury bus”.
Nicolas Vernalde, who chose to abstain, proposed to “suspend” this decision to continue investments and studies of the Varan, “until the economic outlook improves and the cost of the dragon no longer weighs, or less on city finances”.
The vote against from the left surprises
For his part, Marc de Fleurian (RN) said he was enthusiastic “to see that the left, which voted for this project in the last term, has aligned itself with the proposals of the National Rally”.
“The people of Calais also need to warm up and light up (…) We are about to put 328,000 euros into a project, which we are not sure of seeing materialize in view of the very uncertain budgetary developments of the years to come”, he estimates, affirming that the visitors came to Calais this summer “because the weather was nice and because there was the sea”, and therefore “not because of the dragon”.
“A tourist activity”
During the discussions around this deliberation, another criticism emerged: should the dragon be considered as culture or simply as a tourist attraction? For Jean-Philippe Lannoy (Respirer Calais), it is the second option that must be retained: “It is a tourist activity, a city event: which probably dresses in the world yes, but it is not not culture”.
A reproach swept away by the mayor, who recalled the financing by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC). For Pascal Pestre, deputy mayor, delegate for the attractiveness of the territory, it is even “street theater”.