Asbestos remediation postponed by 1 year

The deadline for the ban on asbestos roofs has been postponed by 12 months. That is what State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven (Infrastructure and Water Management) said during the House of Representatives debate on the legal stipulation of the asbestos ban.

Maurits van Martels (CDA) and Eric Ziengs (VVD) stated that January 1, 2024 is not feasible at the current pace. They therefore proposed to move the deadline to December 31, 2024, because that is still 2024 after all. Chris Stoffer (SGP) even proposed to postpone the date by 2 years.

Van Veldhoven responded understandingly. "Given the size of the assignment, it is not unreasonable to postpone the deadline." However, she thinks a 1 year delay is more realistic than 2 years, because there must be pressure on the asbestos remediation.

Loans instead of subsidies
According to Van Veldhoven, the local authorities are working on financial incentives. In addition, there would be a system whereby a loan can be taken out at a low interest rate, in order to finance the asbestos decontamination.

the rural subsidy pot for asbestos abatement is empty next year. LTO Nederland wants the booster subsidy to remain available until 2021. However, the State Secretary does not want to make extra money available to be able to subsidize for longer. According to her, it was a boost subsidy to get the remediation started as quickly as possible, not a permanent one government support.

Linking sustainability and asbestos
Van Veldhoven also said that it is interesting to link the sustainability task with the asbestos task. An example of this is to combine the removal of asbestos with the installation of solar panels. The State Secretary will enter into talks with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations to link the statements.

Stoffer also stated that he is afraid of a 'wild west situation', with high remediation costs and an increasing number of dumping in wild nature. "We cannot be asbestos-free in 2024, because there are currently too few asbestos removal companies. They are already unable to cope with the work. In addition, 33% of farms cannot afford asbestos removal at all."

outrage 
The opposition parties SP, GroenLinks and the PvdA expressed indignation about Van Veldhoven's commitment. According to Cem Laçin (SP), asbestos still claims 500 to 1.000 lives a year. According to him, this indicates the urgency of the problem. He therefore wants the date of January 1, 2024 to remain. 

In addition, Laçin wants money to be made available to support the removal of the asbestos. "The amount of €4 per m² is insufficient; especially if a new roof has to be built." GroenLinks and the PvdA are concerned about how the ban will be enforced.

More support
LTO Nederland also argues for more support from the government. According to the representative, more than 20 million m . is now available in the agricultural sector² remediated. Despite this result, about 7 million to 80 million m . still needs to be done from 100 provinces² be remediated in the agricultural sector. That is 20% more than expected.

The costs for this amount to more than €1,5 billion. The current rate of asbestos removal is 7 to 10 million m² per year. LTO Nederland states that without sufficient financial support from the government and flexible rules to accelerated remediation, the target will not be achieved.

Anne-Jan Doorn

Anne Jan Doorn is an arable expert at Boerenbusiness. He writes about the various arable farming markets and also focuses on the land and energy market.

aj.doorn@boerenbusiness. Nl

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