News item | 31-05-2022 | 14:00
Today, Minister De Jonge of Housing and Spatial Planning and Minister Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management, together with the design, construction and engineering sector, banks and industry associations, signed a declaration of intent ‘Continuing to build together in uncertain times’. Due to the war in Ukraine and high inflation, materials are more expensive and more difficult to obtain, making projects more expensive. This has consequences for the continuity of construction projects that are of great economic and social importance, such as housing construction and maintenance and renovation of infrastructure and the built environment. With this declaration of intent, the parties involved therefore want to make a joint effort to promote continuity, so that further development can take place.
Minister De Jonge: “It is very important that the declaration of intent is signed today. We all see the repercussions of the war in Ukraine and its rising costs. To prevent us from falling behind with construction projects, it is good that agreements are made about how we can promote continuity. Everyone will have to do their part in these uncertain times.”
Minister Harbers: “To ensure that we can continue to travel to work, study, friends and family, we must continue to work on our infrastructure. Roads need to be maintained and many of our bridges and viaducts need major maintenance or replacement. To ensure that work on our infrastructure continues, the government and the construction sector must make good agreements about rising costs. We do this for continuity for the construction sector and so that projects that are important for accessibility in the Netherlands can be carried out.”
Continuity and agreements
The letter of intent contains principles for arriving at workable solutions for joint projects. These solutions will be examined per project, depending on contract types and agreements already made. The statement therefore does not contain any new legal agreements or budgetary frameworks, but is aimed at finding solutions for each project that, under difficult and uncertain circumstances, are suitable for both the client and the contractor. This can be, for example, agreements about redesign, tender and permit procedures, about flexibilization and possibly temporization in programming and realisation. This means that, for example, the planning or implementation of a project can be adjusted to make the project more feasible by choosing other materials or by adapting the planning to the delivery of materials that are more difficult to obtain.
Principles of the letter of intent
With this joint action perspective, we focus on reducing risks, limiting damage and promoting continuity in construction production when it comes to construction projects of great social importance and employment in the construction sector. The principles of the action framework are:
- that financial risks are not unilaterally placed with one party in the chain; nor in its entirety to consumers, clients, contractors and/or taxpayers;
- that principals and contractors, in mutual consultation – also with subcontractors – will reach agreements, taking into account each other’s interests, on how to deal with the risks of price increases and delivery problems in tenders and new contracts to be concluded;
- that parties reach agreements in mutual consultation on how to act in the event that existing contractual agreements cannot be fulfilled (on time) due to the crisis;
- that the parties will work in mutual trust and jointly to keep the construction flows going as well as possible.
Supporting parties
Aedes, IPO Interprovincial Consultation, Koninklijke Bouwend Nederland, Koninklijke NLIngenieurs, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, NEPROM Dutch Association of, Project Development Companies, NVTB Dutch Association, Supplying Building Materials Industry, Central Government Real Estate Agency, Rijkswaterstaat, Techniek Nederland, TKI Urban Energy, TNO, VNG Association of Dutch Municipalities, BNA Branch Association of Dutch Architectural Firms, Union of Water Boards.