---

Johan Leman, 8 September 2022

on the possibility of an investment tower on Place Sainctelette in Molenbeek.

Yesterday, 7 September, there was an interesting Pano broadcast on VRT television. You are happy too, I suppose, when a public service broadcaster broadcasts a product worthy of a public service broadcaster? Well, you will agree with me, if you saw the broadcast, that it was a successful report.

What struck me most is that there are chiefs in real estate building in Belgium who think they are the most suitable people, more than the ordinary plebs, to organize it, more than the politicians or responsible ministers. They claim to  know what is good for urban development and for the future of our country. The only much-needed demarche they make is to have dinner or visit policy makers in time and present them their plans. The minister concerned is then expected to accept their proposal and amend the regulations or provide the necessary exceptions in the regulations.

Knowing that the speculation around the site where the investment tower is to be built actually started at the end of the 1980s (and has been going on for more than 40 years), and seeing how many exceptions to the regulations are now granted by the Region, the approach to the investment tower on Place Sainctelette corresponds perfectly to what was described in the Pano broadcast.

The main conclusion: it is the Realestate sector and speculators who actually dictate to the politicians the development of the canal area in Brussels, and the politicians (at regional level)? They follow and approve the wishes of the speculators and of Real estate. And oh yes, they refer to a general problem, namely that there must be more high-rise buildings in the future to permit to create more green areas, and that there is a housing shortage in Brussels, to push through something that actually has nothing to do with it; as if this investment tower will reduce the housing shortage. On the contrary… it will drive up prices in the surrounding area.

Back