Government hires holiday park for asylum seekers
The central reception body for asylum seekers (COA) has rented a holiday park for the accommodation of asylum seekers. Due to a sudden increase in arrivals, the normal accommodation is full.
“We have arranged with the owner of a chalet park in Gulpen-Wittem to use the park for temporary accommodation for asylum seekers. In total, 400 places are involved,” the COA disclosed. The contract is valid for a period of six months.
“The need for extra capacity is caused by unexpectedly high numbers of new asylum seekers”. As a result, the reception centre in Ter Apel, which has room for 600 people, is now housing 2,500.
There are two reasons for the extra arrivals. On the one hand, there are many applications from Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other hand, there is an inexplicable increase in the number of Chinese arrivals. The COA suspects that a rumour in the Chinese community has incorrectly led to the idea that everyone who registers before 1 April will receive a Dutch passport.
The COA hired the holiday park without permission from the Gulpen-Wittem local authority. COA director Nurten Albayrak - the sister of Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak - admitted that “communication with the local authority is not proceeding as might be expected”.
Source: NIS News, 1 April 2008
