Leuven (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In Leuven, a €114,000 electric sweeper was mistakenly listed for auction at €390. Councillors Zeger Debyser and Pieterjan Vangerven raised concerns about poor asset management.
As VRT News reported, a mix-up in Leuven has caused a stir. The city almost sold a nearly new electric street sweeper by accident. 2 years ago, the sweeper cost about €114,000. It was put up for auction, and someone bid only €390.
A city leader, Zeger Debyser, found out about it. He asked why they were selling it. The person in charge was surprised and said, “Something went wrong,” but didn’t explain. This has people wondering how a valuable, new machine could be sold off without a good reason.
How did Leuven nearly sell a €114,000 sweeper for just €390?
Debyser says the city isn’t watching things closely enough, which could cost taxpayers money. He also found it odd that they almost sold an electric sweeper for very little, even though the city wants to be green. The N-VA wants a full explanation and an internal check to see how this happened and stop it from happening again.
After the mistake, the electric sweeper was taken off the auction site. But no one has said how it got there in the first place. The person in charge of money, Thomas Van Oppens, didn’t say anything when asked. This has made people worry more, and they want to know what happened. He mentioned that the incident has started a talk about how the city checks things and how it handles expensive equipment bought with tax money.
