The development of a new luxury residential area on artificial lakes in the east of Groningen was never a realistic project and has cost the province some €29m, according to the official auditors report.

Blauwestad was supposed to provide up to 1,500 homes for well-heeled households with a love of water sports, but only around 183 plots of land have actually been bought.
The project was not properly financed, problems were ignored and all the risks were pushed on to the private sector firms which eventually dropped out, the report says.
According to the Financieele Dagblad, the project has not been abandoned but revised. Now it will have fewer houses and more recreation.
However, the auditor warned that the province should not be over-optimistic, given the large number of residential developments in the region.