Major infrastructure projects shelved to clear €18bn for repairs

The government is shelving dozens of new road, rail and waterway projects so it can spend €18 billion on overdue and essential maintenance over the next 15 years.

Plans to extend the Randstadrail metro link between Rotterdam and The Hague, upgrade the A28 between Amersfoort and Hoogeveen and make the island of Ameland more accessible are among the 29 projects being put on hold.

Infrastructure minister Vincent Karremans, announcing the list on Friday, said the government was having to make “painful choices” in order to catch up on the backlog of repairs built up under successive governments.

Many of the Netherlands’ roads, bridges and viaducts were built between the 1950s and 1970s, but the two main maintenance programmes have been structurally underfunded for years.

Karremans told parliament he was “reprioritising“ the list of planned new projects “that we have been dreaming of for years because we need to carry out essential maintenance and modernisation”.

Last year the Mobiliteitsfonds and the Deltafonds faced a shortfall of €80 bn for the period up to 2040, though this figure has been trimmed to €65 bn in the light of investments announced in the coalition agreement and next year’s budget.

Roads, railways and canals

The highways and waterways agency warned last year that an extra €34.5 bn was needed to repair tunnels, locks and bridges, while railtrack operator ProRail says it needs another €20 bn between now and 2038.

Last week the Court of Audit said another €9.5 billon needed to be spent to make motorways and railways strong enough to transport military supplies during a war.

Karremans’ redistribution will allow maintenance to be undertaken on critical infrastructure such as the pumping station at IJmuiden, which needs a €2.3 bn upgrade. The current pump, which drains an area where four million people live, was built in 1975, while the sluice dates from 1940.

Another €2.4 bn has been ringfenced for completing essential projects such as the Zuidasdok, a tunnel and motorway intersection in Amsterdam’s business district, and improving a 47km stretch of the A27 between Houten and Hooipolder.

High speed line

On the railways, the government says €2 bn is needed for the high speed line between Schiphol and Rotterdam, where speed limits have been imposed because 10 viaducts are in need of repair, while another €1.9 bn will be spent on introducing the European Rail Traffic Management System.

Another €635 mln has been earmarked to improve connections in the so-called “Brainport” region around Eindhoven by building two platforms at Eindhoven Centraal station, a neighbouring bus station and widening roads around the city’s airport, where chip machine maker ASML is extending its campus.

Karremans has also set up a special task force known as ADIEU to bring regulations down to the “bare minimum”, which he believes can save €2 bn.

But the decision to suspend dozens of projects has come as a blow, particularly in rural areas that depend on road and rail connections.

Lelylijn funding

Ameland council said dredging the channel between the island and Holwert cost the government €3 bn a year and a new route was essential to enable islanders to reach the mainland for services such as hospital care.

Nearly all projects in the northern provinces of Gronigen, Friesland and Drenthe have been put on hold, although the Nedersaksenlijn, a rail route between Groningen and Enschede, is going ahead at the cost of €2 bn.

There are also fresh doubts about the viability of the Lelylijn, the long-cherished high-speed rail link between Groningen and Amsterdam.

Junior infrastructure minister Annet Bertram said on Friday that the line “forms an opportunity to connect the northern part of the country better with other areas and possibly with Germany”.

But she also admitted that the cabinet could commit to the €15 bn annual investment for the project and other funding sources would have to be identified.