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18/04/2008North-South Metro a bottomless pit

The Amsterdam metro will cost EUR 600 million more and take another 2 years to complete.

18 April 2008

AMSTERDAM - Amsterdam's North-South metro line is a "bottomless pit" according to the city's daily newspaper Het Parool.

Amsterdam's Traffic Councillor Tjeerd Herrema announced on Thursday another EUR 325 million in price increases, as well as a delay of two more years.

The metro, connecting Amsterdam North with the World Trade Centre in the south of the city was originally estimated to cost EUR 1.4 billion, with a completion date of 2011.

In 2002, the government agreed to pay EUR 1.1 billion and the city EUR 300 million. Amsterdam agreed to finance any "unexpected" additional costs.

According to the "realistic" estimates released by Councillor Herrema, the North-South line will cost more than EUR 2 billion, which means the city will have to cough up more than EUR 900 million, EUR 600 million more than the original estimate.

Due to technical problems in the digging and reinforcement of the tunnel in the city centre's soggy soil the target date for completion is now 2011.

Herrema blamed former city officials for being overly positive. He says when it comes to mega-projects they have a tendency to demonstrate "tunnel vision". According to the Volkskrant newspaper there will be no political consequences" and no former city officials will be investigated.

Het Parool reports that passengers on the North-South line will have to pay more for a ticket.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]


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