The Haren mega-prison project, to be built under a public-private partnership, is scheduled to cost the State a billion euros, according to the head of Belgium’s Building Authority, Laurent Vrijdaghs. Vrijdaghs told Le Soir daily that the prison will cost the State 40.2 million euros annually over a period of 25 years, with the Building Authority paying 33.2 million euros each year and the Justice Department the remaining seven (7) million euros.
Under the Haren mega-prison contract, signed this summer with Cafasso, the private consortium will be responsible for “drawing up plans, construction, financing of works and maintaining the complex,” Vrijdaghs said. “It will thus manage the technical maintenance, from the heating installations to the security equipment,” he explained.
Construction work will begin in April 2019 and the prison, which is to be able to accommodate 1,190 prisoners, should be operational by Spring 2022.
The Brussels Times
