Belgian coast project under scrutiny

Soon in Flanders?

The Belgian Presidency of the European Union was only hours old when the first crisis arrived. The Flanders government has pushed through emergency funding for a project, claimed to protect the Belgian coast by constructing a series of islands.

The project, officially called “Vlaamse Oplossing” is to use dredgers to construct a series of thirty artificial islands off the coast. “Flanders should show ambitions”, the Flemish Minister responsible for Public Works, Hilde Crevits told The Brussel Jungle.

Crevits said the project was vital for the future of Flanders, “That’s why we have given the go-ahead for the creation of a new foundation. We also want the private project to be translated into concrete projects.”

There are those who are concerned about what exactly the ambitions could be. One high ranking official told BJ that, “I can say one thing. It’s not about coastal protection. The idea might work in theory, but these islands are too far out to serve that purpose. It was a condition that they be beyond the horizon. Officially it was because they didn’t want to spoil the view from Ostend Casino.”

The official said the project had another name, but it must never be used publicly, “We call it District Negen.” He said ominously.

BJ reporters have asked to see the plans for the islands, but the Ministry say none have been drawn up as the project is in the pre-planning stage. The source inside the top level of the project management disagreed, “I’ve seen the plan. This plan is going to be enacted during the next six months.”

The Minister also spoke of tourism opportunities, explaining this is why the isles are connected to the mainland, enabling large numbers of visitors.

“I’ve seen the drawings,” said the source, “This is not tourism. The buildings are surrounded by high walls, topped with razor wire and guarded by watch towers with machine guns.” When asked who would be incarcerated in the offshore isles, the sources said, “I have my suspicions. Each of the heavily fortified complexes on the islands has a name, such as Liège, Charleroi, Mons, Namur, Tournai, Verviers, Nivelles and Mouscron. Do I need to continue?”

According to a spokesperson for the Flemish government said, “the planned accommodation is for a total of 3.5 million tourists. It has been made secure, because we believe that many would want to stay for a significant length of time.”

The spokesperson said that , “We have done extensive market research on our future visitors, we believe that they will tend to come from within present day Belgium and be French speaking. We are very confident in our research.”

Concern over Wallonia increased last night, when BJ reporters were sent a copy of a Flemish government leaflet, about to be distributed to every Fleming. It is titled, “How to build a good, solid Flemish home on sloping ground”.

When these issues were raised with Rudy Demotte, Minister-President of the Wallonian Community, who said, “This is very worrying. We must discuss this immediately, once we get back from our holidays, sometime in late September. Or possibly November. No, that’s too close to Christmas. We’ll address this in the new year, maybe around March or April.”