It might be claimed that this utterance does not contain the NPI meer, but instead its homonym, the comparative meer. However, there are two factors which make it very unlikely that the comparative meer is used.

For one thing, the intonation pattern of heleboel meer points in the direction of NPI-meer, since it is falling. If heleboel meer was meant to have the comparative meaning, the intonation pattern would have been rising.

Also, given the context in which this utterance appears, heleboel meer would be very odd, if not uninterpretable, if it was meant to have the comparative meaning. NPI-meer, however, with its temporal aspect of meaning, fits very well, since the conversation is about a difference which has taken place over time.

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