The Brussels municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode will give the green light to the construction of new metro infrastructure "under certain conditions," including pushing it back it until current public works are completed, town mayor Emir Kir said on Monday.
The project would see a new metro station built in the municipality's Place Liedts, as well as a tunnel which would link it with Schaerbeek's Gare du Nord.
"Under certain conditions, Saint-Josse will give a positive opinion to the project of the tunnel between the station Gare du Nord and Liedts," Kir was cited as saying on Twitter, adding that "no construction" would be undertaken in the area before current ones are completed.
With the municipality's Square Victoria Régina and Place Saint-Lazare currently in construction, and with the latter expected to be finished at year's end, the mayor said it was "not possible" for the construction works of the new metro infrastructure to start before then.
"Those works can take ten years, they can destroy a neighbourhood," Kir said, according to Bruzz. "We want people to wait until the work on Sint-Lazarusplein is finished by the end of 2020," he added.
Saint-Josse authorities are set to lay down their conditions to give the go-ahead to the construction project during a consultation committee which will be held on Friday.
Other conditions expected to be imposed by the municipality would be the demand compensation for shops in the area whose businesses could be impacted by the construction works, as well as "accompanying measures" to limit the works' impact on mobility in the area.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
