The Netherlands spends little on roads, exacerbating the housing shortage. Roads are necessary to reach houses, but unfortunately, rules and lack of funds stand in the way, experts say. “The result is that in some places, it is not possible to build houses.”
“If there is no road, you can’t do anything with a house,” says Herman Reinten, general manager of road builder ReintenInfra. He is surprised at how the conversation is going in the Netherlands.
“I think it is worrying that in the Netherlands we are talking about accessibility, but we don’t have any money for it. While everyone agrees that the infrastructure needs large-scale replacement.”
Municipalities are also concerned. VVD councilor Jan van Burgsteden of Meierijstad calls the hidden defects in bridges “a silent killer”. According to him, you only see that problem when it is too late. Due to lack of funds, municipalities regularly postpone the maintenance of bridges, viaducts, locks and other so-called civil engineering works.
New construction also needs good infrastructure. That is why seven major parties from the housing construction industry are calling on the government to invest. This can include cycle paths, public transport, small N-roads or the widening of motorways.
Builders ask for clarity
“Large-scale housing construction is only possible if new areas are easily accessible,” the major builders wrote last week. They addressed the outgoing Minister Mona Keijzer (Housing), who is trying to realize the ambition of 100,000 new homes per year.
But that is not easy. Builders still have to overcome more obstacles, such as nitrogen rules, slow permit granting, lengthy objection procedures and a complex web of regulations. This plays a role everywhere in construction, including infrastructure. That is why the builders are asking the cabinet not only for investments, but also for clarity.
Hope vested in money for the NATO standard
Road builder Reinten recognizes how difficult it has become to comply with all the rules. “Not only when it comes to infrastructure for new neighborhoods, but also for the existing network. We often notice that it is difficult to get all the stamps.” Reinten calls it “unconsciously working against”.
In the Netherlands, we like to record things in rules, notes Wijnand Veeneman, professor of Governance of Infrastructure and Mobility at TU Delft. “Those rules limit the scope for action. You would want politicians to deal with those rules more cleverly, for example by speeding up the permit granting process or adjusting the nitrogen regulations differently.”
Difficult regulations can, for example, concern standards for parking, noise pollution and emissions. Now there are different CO2 emission standards in different places, which makes planning more complex for builders. And municipalities sometimes come up with additional requirements themselves.
“The rules sounded very logical when they were made separately,” says Veeneman. “But they add up to a whole that prevents us from moving forward. The result is that in some places it is not possible to build houses.”
A problem you only see when it is too late
Clear cabinet policy is slow in coming, calls like those from the builders keep coming and in the meantime the infrastructure is aging.
“Infrastructure can easily be ignored for a while,” says Professor Veeneman. “Apart from the collapsed bridges in Dresden and Genoa, nothing has really gone wrong in recent years. Certainly not in the Netherlands.”
Due to financial problems, municipalities often postpone maintenance. If there is too little money, it is easy to postpone maintenance on infrastructure for a few years. But many bridges, viaducts and locks were built in the 1960s and 1970s and are nearing the end of their lifespan.
The railways are also facing cutbacks. ProRail recently urged the government to stop doing so. Otherwise, according to the rail manager, German conditions will arise with a severely outdated rail network and many delays. ProRail says it has now cut everything that can be cut.
“You can’t ask more of a company,” said ProRail’s CFO Mirjam van Velthuizen. “Otherwise the Netherlands will pay the bill later.”
Sufficient opportunities abroad
Where should the money for the infrastructure come from? The Netherlands has placed the burden on the government, but it does not have any money itself. “So either the national government has to invest, or you have to think more creatively.”
He sees sufficient opportunities abroad. “In addition to toll roads, France has a transport law for large cities that stipulates that employers contribute to public transport. In the United States, VAT goes up when you build a tram line. And in Copenhagen, investments in real estate around metro stations benefit the construction of the metro line along those stations.”
“There are plenty of solutions,” says Veeneman. “We could consider taking some of that over in the Netherlands.”
Road builder Reinten pins his hopes on the money that the Netherlands must spend on defense according to the new NATO standard. 1.5 percent of GDP (everything we earn in the Netherlands in a year from the production of goods and services) can go to defense-related matters, such as infrastructure. That could mean billions more per year for infrastructure.
“I think you can very well link that to housing construction and to connecting roads,” says Reinten. “This way we can make the road system robust again.”