The Walloon government has finally validated the guidelines relating to the Loop of Hainaut, this controversial high-voltage electrical link. As a reminder, the Boucle du Hainaut project involves building a new overhead electrical link with a voltage level of 380 kV and a transmission capacity of 6 GW between the Avelgem and Courcelles substations. “The Hainaut loop threatens our children, our health, the fauna and flora. Our house will no longer be worth anything”, worries Nathalie on social networks.
For his part, the Minister-President Elio Di Rupo, had spoken in the press, and had put the possibility of a burial on the table. On the set of RTL info Signatures, Elio Di Rupo indicated: “The health of our fellow citizens is paramount. What is currently on the table is a provisional route. There is nothing definitive. There is going to be an environmental impact study. We ask that we not only study the initial route of the links, but also the alternatives and that we study whether we can bury everything or not. As things stand, what the experts say is that the burial might not be done only over 8 kms. I think we should study this faculty because I can understand Nathalie like others, it’s a question of health. And nothing is more important than health”.
If the burial is recorded, who will pay? “In a coin, there are always two sides. You never have a one-sided solution”, answers Elio Di Rupo. Before adding: “If it were buried, it would cost much more and it would probably be passed on to the bills of fellow citizens. But in the current state of things, it is a study that we are asking for”.