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From our business editors
January 22, 2024 at 5:59 p.m. Update: a day ago
The Van Brienenoord Bridge, one of the busiest bridges in the Netherlands, has reached the end of its life, but Rijkswaterstaat cannot find a suitable partner for the renovation. This delays work for years and increases the risk of disruptions.
The only company that responded to Rijkswaterstaat’s tender asked for more than the available budget, meaning Rijkswaterstaat is now back to the drawing board. “It is not often that Rijkswaterstaat cancels a tender at an advanced stage,” outgoing Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harbers wrote to the House of Representatives.
Contractors are less likely to choose such risky projects because construction costs are rising and there is a lack of good staff, explains Harbers. “Due to the tight labor market, companies are having to make decisions about where to deploy their scarce capacity.”
The renovation is expected to take place four years later. “We are developing a new approach to the renewal of the bridge in which the risks are acceptable to the market,” reports Rijkswaterstaat. “The project will then be put out to tender again in a different form.” The renovation was originally planned for the period between 2025 and 2027.
Higher chance of malfunctions
The bridge, whose first arch dates back to 1965, has reached the end of its lifespan and is in urgent need of major maintenance and replacement. The plan is to replace the oldest arch section with a new one and to renovate the other bridge section, which was added in 1989.
“We will ensure that the bridge can be used safely until it is replaced,” writes Rijkswaterstaat. However, the likelihood of malfunctions increases. This applies, for example, to disruptions in bridge operations, which means traffic has to wait longer.
Around 230,000 vehicles now cross the bridge every day. Every year around 120,000 ships pass through the bridge and the bridge is opened to shipping hundreds of times.
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