By withdrawing the building exemption 150 North Holland construction projects are in danger of falling into the water. The Council of State decided today that the construction sector will no longer be exempted from nitrogen measures. King Arthur van Dijk’s commissioner warns that if the cabinet does not take action, North Holland risks becoming ‘unlivable’.
The ruling was made in the Porthos case, a project in the port of Rotterdam in which CO2 is stored in an empty gas field. The ruling not only affects this project, but also the construction projects within our province. “It may really be that future projects no longer get off the ground. That it simply will not work”, says Mark Tervoort, director of construction company Tervoort Egmond.
The province of North Holland also clearly speaks out against the judge’s ruling: “This has consequences for most of the 150 large construction projects in North Holland, for tens of thousands of homes. But also hospitals, offices, shops, power plants, recreation, roads and water supplies will be affected. If the cabinet does not take action now, North Holland will be locked in the coming years and our province threatens to become unlivable,” said Arthur van Dijk, Commissioner of the King in North Holland.
No construction stop
The Council of State emphasizes that the ruling does not lead to a construction freeze. However, a calculation must now be made of the nitrogen precipitation on nature areas for every new construction project. And that creates problems: there are not enough experts to make these calculations, so this can cause months of delay. In addition, it is also an extra cost, which, according to Tervoort, the consumer will pay for: “It increases the construction costs and the lead time, it is becoming more and more expensive.”
Construction has been under pressure for a long time, and that clearly causes irritation: “It is simply incomprehensible to us that Minister De Jonge calls out that we are going to build 900,000 homes before 2030, and the other side then ties its hands behind our backs. Tervoort said.
Yet there is still a glimmer of hope. “Fortunately, we have Bouwend Nederland (association of construction and infrastructure companies, ed.) with good entrances in The Hague. I can hope that they will hit the table with a hard fist, but I assume that,” he says.