Dijon Houseboats Forced to Vacate Port: Permanent Departure Looms

In Dijon (Côte-d’Or), houseboats parked at Port a’Canal will soon have to leave the premises. Renovation work will be carried out there this summer. If the site manager says that they will be able to return at the end of the project, they are sure that their departure is permanent.

They are part of the landscape when you walk by the canal port in Dijon (Côte-d’Or), but they could soon be gone. On paper, the eight barges in the port have until June 30 to leave the building, while work is being done. But in reality, they may not be allowed to return when the job is done.

Eric, at least, is sure about it. He has lived on his bar, based in Dijon, for 12 years. According to him, the objective of the capital of Dijon and the site manager of Voie navigable de France (VNF) is to prevent the return of houseboats.

“We are at least a little defeated. There is sadness. We have to organize ourselves quickly. It is going to change our lives”regret the Dijonnais.

At the start of the next departure of the houseboats, the project was to upgrade the piers and redevelop the site. The water and electricity networks in particular will be cut for the development. If the contours of the project have not yet been defined by VNF and the city, the port should focus on tourism and leisure activities.

In the considerations, the possibility to favor hotel boats, to offer a rental basis or even to install a hotel. But VNF ​​does not exclude living with houseboats.

“No decision has been made at the moment to aim for the port of Dijon (sic), but we are trying to see which customs are compatible”, explains Nicolas Vadrot, waterway development manager at VNF.

The problem is that the speech of the mayor of Dijon is very different. Questioned in the city council, François Rebsamen (FP) explained on March 25: “The houseboats are leaving.