“It seems to me to be the first thing to do”: the Belgian state unable to establish how many buildings it has

“It seems to me to be the first thing to do”: the Belgian state unable to establish how many buildings it has



New Minister in charge of the Building Régie, Vanessa Matz made a surprising observation: the Belgian state has no complete cadastre of its real estate heritage. A priority project to better manage public goods.



How many buildings does the Belgian state have? Impossible to answer this question precisely.

Vanessa Matz, freshly appointed Minister of Public Action and Modernization, in charge in particular of the Régie des Bâtiments, underlined this major gap: “Belgium does not have a cadastre of all the buildings that belong to the state. It seems to me to be the first thing that must be done.”

If inventories exist partially, no official document today makes it possible to draw up an overall inventory of public real estate heritage. “We still have an idea of ​​what we have, but there is no final cadastre of these buildings”she explains.





This lack of visibility prevents effective management of public goods. For Vanessa Matz, establishing a specific cadastre is a priority: “You should know what you need, which is less necessary, which can be rented or reassured”.

A government in place and under surveillance

The Minister also reacted to taking office of the new federal government, marked by a low representation of women (4 for 11 men). She regrets this imbalance while welcoming the competence of her female colleagues: “We can weigh in decisions”.

We are vigilant

As for the presence of the N-VA in the executive, it wants to be reassuring. “We are in vigilance, but we are also confident in a government agreement that is very good at that”, she explains.





Vanessa Matz returns to the role of Bart de Wever during the negotiations. She says: “Since he took his role as a trainer, he never lacked respect to the Francophones. I have the impression that he took the costume of the minister of all the Belgians”.

Digital delay and overloaded prisons

Another file on which she intends to act: digital. “For the moment, we are not very good”, She admits, calling for better connectivity between public services and a European investment strategy in artificial intelligence.





On prison overcrowding, it draws up an alarming observation: “There is a lack of prisons. Overcrowding reaches the dignity of staff and prisoners.” If the construction of new establishments is planned, it insists on the need for better management of existing infrastructure.

A minister in front of many projects

Between modernization of the administration, real estate management, digital transition and reform of the prison system, Vanessa Matz inherits complex files.

But above all, she intends to lay the foundations for effective management of public buildings, starting by answering an elementary question: how much does Belgium really have it?








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