Amsterdam’s city government and the national Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management have decided to re-tender its $1.2bn Zuidasdok transport scheme, this time broken up into smaller sections so it can be completed more easily.
The project involves widening and submerging part of the A10 ring motorway, and expanding Amsterdam’s Zuid Station transit hub to cut congestion and overcrowding.
The new contracts are intended to reduce the project’s complexity, and will mean that Zuidplus, a consortium between US engineer Fluor, Germany’s Hochtief and Dutch contractor Heijmans, who previously won a contract for the project in 2017, will have to re-bid for the work.
Zuidplus will still carry out some work as previously agreed, including the final design for the transport hub and construction work linked to rail and road closures.
Ton Hillen, Heijmans’ chief executive, said the project reorganisation would be amicable: "We are pleased that there will be clarity about the future of the Zuidasdok project. The division of the project into sub-packages will make the project more manageable. With our knowledge and expertise we will certainly compete for a number of these sub-packages in the future.
"We will settle the contract amicably alongside the other parties involved. The project’s financial settlement is not expected to have any negative impact on Heijmans’ financial results."
Road closures for the development work are still due to occur in 2020 and 2021.
The project is due to be completed in 2028.
Images courtesy of Zuidasdok/Zuidas
