Dutch Government Contracts With Infrastructure Firms to Expand Roadway

Rijkswaterstaat, the executive arm of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, recently signed a “design, build, finance, maintain” contract with Royal Boskalis Westminster, VolkerWessels, Hochtief and DIF, to widen and reconstruct the A1 and A6 highways in the Netherlands.

The contract is the first part of the road expansion program Schiphol Airport-Amsterdam-Almere and represents a value of more than 1 billion euros (more than about $1.3 billion).

Rijkswaterstaat expects to award the project formally by the end of November and complete financial obligations by 2013.

VolkerWessels, a European construction firm, and Hochtief, a German construction business, each hold a 35 percent share, and Boskalis, a Netherlands-based maritime infrastructure company, holds a 30 percent share, of the contract.