The Netherlands: Almere : some EURO 86 million appropriated money for job creating projects still on the shelf

It has been reported that in Flevoland millions of euros in 2006  investment funds, which were earmarked  for stimulating the economy there are still held back in the Province administration capital of Lelystad.

Consequently many projects did not get off the ground. This is the conclusion of a Court of Auditors report on the investment program Flevoland-Almere (IFA).

The IFA, which has a term of ten to fifteen years to administer Government funds, specially aimed at the 'unique urban climate of Almere' designed to develop and market the economic position of Almere in the North Wing of the Randstad. 

The idea was also to encourage entrepreneurs and residents to come up with appealing ideas for Almere. For example social, cultural and economic focused  projects.

The Suburban Court of Auditors and the Court of Auditors also examined individually and later  in cooperation with the municipality of Almere the recommendations of  previous evaluations, which for example included tighter control mechanisms.

But despite all this, the earmarked money is still  on the shelf "somewhere". Originally the Province of Flevoland and Almere agreed  that EUR 100 million would be made available in three tranches.  This has now shrunk to around EURO 89 million.

Once these funds are released it will require to have hands-on projects available which can be put into immediate action. Unfortunately these projects are still on the drawing board and don't seem to have been thought through in any detail yet.


Almere=Digest .

EU-Digest: Marathon Dutch skating championship on Flevoland Province Oostvaarders Lakes

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Marathon Dutch skating championship on Flevoland Province Oostvaarders Lakes

Twenty two year old Marathon skater Sjoerd Huisman won the Dutch Championship on Natural Ice today, January 8. Huisman beat Arjan Stroetinga in a neck-and-neck finish in the 100-kilometre-long circuit at the Oostvaarders Lakes in the Flevoland Province. The women's 60 kilometre race was won by Carla Zielman; Danielle Bekkering came in second. It's been 12 years since the last Dutch Skating Championship marathon was held on natural ice. Some 150 skaters participated in the two races.

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EU-Digest: The Netherlands - Zeewolde - Cow manure energy plant to supply power for 3000 homes

The anaerobic digestion process producing biogas

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The Netherlands - Zeewolde - Cow manure energy plant to supply heat for 3000 homes

On Wednesday January the 7th, inhabitants of a new housing development project in the rural Dutch City of Zeewolde, Province of Flevoland, got their homes heated by "green energy" produced from cow manure. The energy comes from biogas, produced by a process know as anaerobic digestion. At Zeewolde's new plant the raw materials for the digestion process are mainly supplied by local cattle farms. The gas from this digestion plant goes some 5 km's via pipeline to the heat producing energy plant in Zeewolde with an electrical capacity of 1.3 megawatts. By the end of this year some 3000 homes will get their heat from this process.

Biogas is a mixture of gases, usually carbon dioxide and methane. It is produced by a few kinds of microorganisms, mainly when either air or oxygen is absent. Animals that eat a lot of plant material, particularly grazing animals, such as cattle, produce large amounts of biogas, which can be turned into energy. Most plants of the Zeewolde kind use raw material consisting of 50% liquid and solid manure, with the remaining proportion made up on the basis of maize and various other organic products.

There are approximately 60 biogas plants currently operating in the Netherlands, with a forecasted potential of some 400 additional plants.