‘Government must make structural investments in mobility’

In The Hague, VVD, D66, CDA and CU meet to form a new government. The Mobility Alliance hopes that a new government will pull out the wallet in a different way for better mobility in the Netherlands and therefore climbs into the pen. The alliance of 26 companies, including the ANWB, the Bovag, public transport companies and Transport en Logistiek Nederland, are urgently asking for structural investments in mobility instead of ‘one-off pots’. Chairman Steven van Eijck writes: “This can no longer be the case. The infrastructure budget has been squeezed in the past decade and has been a balancing act for all kinds of assignments, while demand has increased enormously. Structural and real-life problems require a structural contribution.”

The Mobility Alliance states that investments in infrastructure in the Netherlands require €3 billion per year until 2040, but that there is already a deficit of €1 billion per year to maintain the current infrastructure. It also points out that the percentage of GDP that is invested in mobility and accessibility is declining, while the Netherlands continues to grow. “In addition to the major challenges in the management and maintenance tasks, the infrastructure bottlenecks must therefore also be resolved in order to be able to cope with this growth. And to realize better and faster connections: abroad, between the different parts of the country, to and from the Randstad and within urban areas,” said chairman Van Eijck (Rai Vereniging), who, together with Marjan Rintel (top woman NS), emphasizes how important a structurally more substantial investment is: “We were always busy closing one gap with another. It won’t be long before this breaks us down. We experience every day what effect the closure of the Haringvliet bridge will have on society. If we don’t act now, these kinds of scenes will happen more often. On the road, on the rail, in public transport and on the bicycle path.”