Minister and city executives confirm importance of Zuidasdok

In December 2023 and May 2024, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management and Amsterdam city executives notified the House of Representatives and the City Council of an anticipated shortfall of € 600 – 800 million in the Zuidasdok project. This has largely been caused by the extreme price increases seen in recent years. On behalf of government officials, an assessment has recently been made of potential cutbacks and these were presented to officials in May 2024.

National and regional interest

In view of the significant national and regional interest, the whole of the Zuidasdok project has been reconfirmed: station regeneration, road widening and diversion into a tunnel. Amsterdam Zuid station plays an important role in the railway network, serving as a national, regional and local public transport hub. The realisation of Zuidasdok makes it possible for Amsterdam Zuid station to be expanded with a third railway platform. This will enable international railway transport to be relocated from Amsterdam Central to Amsterdam Zuid station, freeing up capacity for the growth of the national railway network on important rail links to Noord Holland and Flevoland and beyond (PHS Alkmaar – Amsterdam, PHS SAAL). In the future, space will also be created to enable a link with the planned Lelylijn, connecting the Randstad with the Northern Netherlands. This will make it possible for international railway transport to be increased to four international HSL trains per hour to and from Paris and London via the HSL. Government officials consider this to be particularly important in view of the Air-to-Rail sustainability plans. 

Tender procedure for tunnel

Zuidasdok can proceed with the tender for the tunnel that will divert the A10 Zuid underground at the heart of Zuidas. The contract for the Tunnel project will be awarded next summer, initially for the development of the preliminary design for the northern and southern tunnel and realisation of the southern tunnel. This will ensure that the existing budget is put to maximum effect, but the shortfall of € 600 to 800 million will remain. The advantage of this decision is that there will be no delay (and associated costs) and no irreversible decisions need to be made. Since there is currently insufficient budget available, the contract for the realisation of the northern tunnel cannot be awarded at this time. A decision about the realisation and funding of the northern tunnel will be taken at a later stage. Government officials have agreed to make a decision on this by the second half of 2025 at the latest.

Cutbacks

The investigations conducted in recent months have resulted in a series of possibilities for cutbacks. They include agreeing a target of achieving cutbacks in the region of € 70 million by making the scope of the project less ambitious. Government officials have also suggested investigating a more robust construction method to enable construction work to be done faster, more simply and at lower cost. In the period ahead, government officials will also prepare proposals on how to deal with the prospect of further shortfalls, should they occur.