“If things go wrong there, things will go wrong,” reports Gielen (GroenLinks). “Then we lose vital functions around energy, infrastructure and ports. And it can lead to major social disruption. Not only resulting in billions in damage, but perhaps also with victims. So I don’t think we can take any risks. This should have top priority.”
In recent months, the provinces of North Holland and Utrecht have made an ‘urgent appeal’ to renovate the ‘crucial’ drainage and pumping station complex. A rough estimate is that this will cost between 1.4 and 2.3 billion euros.
The complex in IJmuiden ensures the drainage of excess water (three billion cubic meters annually) from a large part of the western Netherlands to the North Sea and protects part of the country against flooding.
Call for new cabinet
Some pumps are ‘at the end of their lifespan’ and the technical condition of the pumping station is ‘extremely vulnerable’, wrote then minister Robert Tieman (Infrastructure and Water Management). in a letter early this year to the House of Representatives. He warned that the risk of failure is increasing and that the new cabinet must make a decision quickly.
Two weeks ago, the new ministers at I&W reported that the project cannot be started at the moment due to ‘financial scarcity’. North Holland VVD member Jeroen Boer today called this ‘worrisome’. Gielen called on all provincial factions to (continue to) draw attention to the matter in The Hague.
