February 19, 2016 at 4:25 pm by MarengoYesterday afternoon members of all parties of the Dutch parlament met in a special meeting in The Hague to discuss the future of Soestdijk Palace. The Palace has been empty since the deaths of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard in 2004.
Twelve years later the government still does not know what to do with the building. In december four initiatives were presented to the government: a botanic garden, a meeting place for businesses, an exposition space about the kingdom or a presentation place.
Yesterday the plans were discussed further in a closed meeting. No press was allowed inside and no member of parlament shared information with the press afterwards. However, it is known that many parlementarians are worried about the high costs of a renovation, which are estimated at at least 100 million Euros. One MP said that an additional difficulty ius the shape of the building: long and narrow.
In the mean time, the minister of Housing already said that the Dutch state will ‘not pay a penny’, the renovation have to be financed by the winning project.
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Filed under Dutch Royals Tagged Palaces, Soestdijk Palace.
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