The new government must immediately make major investments in the infrastructure and in road pricing in order to prevent total traffic gridlock in the Netherlands, according to the car sector lobby group RAI Vereniging.

RAI chairman Steven van Eijk said otherwise there will be road gridlock within four years and by 2025 ‘there will be no movement at all on roads and rail,’ the Financieeele Dagblad reported on Tuesday.

Van Eijk made his remarks after talks between the transport lobby and senior infrastructure ministry officials. ‘We are asking for an additional €1bn a year to tackle the problems,’ he said.

Members of the Mobility Alliance include Dutch Rail NS, bus company Arriva, RAI, road users group ANWB and lobby group Transport en Logistiek Nederland.

Van Eijk admitted that the road pricing or ‘pay as you drive’ scheme would take about eight years to be operative but it would cut traffic on the roads.

People not commuting to work could effectively be excluded from using the roads during rush hour by launching a two-tier system of pricing making it cheaper to use the roads during off hours, he suggested.