The deputation of the province of Antwerp is seriously concerned about the future of the port of Antwerp, specifically in terms of safety, if Zwijndrecht were to merge with Beveren and Kruibeke.
In the context of the Zwijndrecht merger dossier, there are major concerns towards safety coordination in the port.“If Zwijndrecht becomes part of East Flanders, then two different police zones, two different fire zones and two different governors will have to make decisions related to the port,” reports deputy Luk Lemmens (N-VA), to the Antwerp Press Agency.
“This will create an extremely risky situation,” he continues. “45 port companies are located in Zwijndrecht territory. Splitting up the port and dividing them between two provinces is really not a good idea. Maybe we should think about bringing the merged municipality of Beveren to Antwerp. Then these problems would not arise. I heard from the governor that 90 complaints have since been received against the merger.”
Groen’s Antwerp group leader Diederik Vandendriessche has the same comments. “There will have to be a serious redistribution of security policy, spread over two governors. That has major implications for all kinds of scenarios in terms of crisis communication.”
With a merger, Zwijndrecht would be located in the province of East Flanders and all business taxes (property tax) would also go to that province. Given that Zwijndrecht is home to a lot of petrochemical companies, this would be a small boost for the province of Antwerp. In total, Antwerp would lose EUR 2.6 million annually. Groen speaks of a “fiscal drain”.
The final decision on whether or not to merge will be taken by the three municipal councils by 31 December 2023 at the latest. If the merger goes ahead, Beveren, Kruibeke and Zwijndrecht will become one municipality from 1 January 2025.
