Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba can once again apply for the Region Deals. For the sixth and final round of the financial stimuli proj­ect, 244.3 million euros has been made available for all the participating regions ­and the Ministry of Hous­ing and Spatial Planning will be accepting applica­tions from August 1 to Oc­tober 31, 2024.

This was announced by Minister Mona Keijzer in a letter sent to the Dutch Second Chamber of Parlia­ment on Thursday, July 18.

“In its recently presented outline agreement titled Hope, Courage and Pride the new Cabinet has es­tablished that every region counts,” writes the min­ister. “This covers many aspects such as the live­ability and accessibility of a region where we believe that cooperation between government, business and knowledge institutions should be taken to the next level. Before we get there, it is important to continue the current programme of Region Deals.”

The previous Cabinet had allocated 257.1 million eu­ros for the final round of the Region Deals, but the new coalition decreased this amount by 10%, for a total of 244.3 million euros. This because the outline co­alition agreement set out a 10% budget cut on specific payments from 2026, which applies to the second half of the payment for Region Deals in the sixth tranche, explains Keijzer.

The Region Envelope funds for the sixth tranche will be made available through a specific payment. A special allowance is pro­vided for Region Deals in the Caribbean Netherlands, for which a tailored accountability system ap­plies. Keijzer emphasises that her staff will work on minimising the administra­tive burden for projects on these islands within the le­gal framework.

In February this year, it was announced that Saba and St. Eustatius would put the substantial financial stimuli of the fifth tranche to good use. On Saba, the five million euros will be put towards a state-of-the-art auditorium in St. John’s. St. Eustatius will use the 10 million euros to restore cultural heritage and boost tourism. It remains unclear if Bonaire applied for the fifth tranche, or if their pro­posal was denied.

In total, over the six rounds, 22 Dutch regions will receive Region Deals funds to improve social se­curity, quality of life and sense of community.

The Daily Herald.