EU supports expansion of Dutch locks

Creation date: 13 December 2012

The European Union will support with over €3 million from the TEN-T Programme two projects for the future expansion of the Beatrix locks and the Lekkanaal in The Netherlands.

The first project, which was selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call, concerns the realisation of a series of studies aimed at evaluating the possibility of using a PPP procedure to develop the Design, Build, Finance, Maintain (DBFM) agreement for the expansion of the Beatrix locks and the Lekkanaal in The Netherlands.

A secondary objective of the project is to transfer the positive experience of road PPP to inland waterway infrastructure. This project shall establish a best practice for procurement of "wet infrastructure" through PPP with the aim to accelerate the realisation of such projects in the future.

The second project, also funded under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call, will carry out the implementation studies and planning procedures which are necessary to launch the works of the Beatrix locks expansion project.

The Princess Beatrix locks lay on the Lek Canal, connecting the Amsterdam-Rhine canal to the Lek River (part of the Rhine River system). This busy waterway is one of the most important links in the north-south inland waterway corridor with a yearly traffic of about 50,000 vessels.

The projects will be managed by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency and are set to be completed by the end of 2014.

For more information, please consult the project's pages!

PPP project

Beatrix locks studies

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