Minister agrees infrastructure budget is too small, puts task to MPs

Infrastructure and Water Management minister Vincent Karremans (VVD) agreed in the budget debate in the Tweede Kamer that the money for infrastructure is not big enough. MPs share that view. He put the job of finding extra money with parliament: "I will add that this requires a number of political choices."

A shift of €18bn, taken from new construction projects to cover eight years of maintenance, is only the start of tackling the gap, Karremans said. The shortfall to build all necessary new infrastructure and maintain the existing network runs to €80bn until 2040.

D66 MP Robin van Leijen asked him for an investment agenda looking 10 years ahead. Karremans was not keen: if the money does not come from somewhere, he said, such an agenda is worth no more than the paper it is printed on.

Karremans is also looking at alternative financing, though he said it is not a free pot of gold. State secretary Annet Bertram (CDA) favours a route to the European Investment Bank (EIB) and possibly NATO. She is now checking whether the EIB has money for the Lelylijn, a new railway between Lelystad and Groningen. The line needs €15bn; only €600m is budgeted.

MPs also raised access to Ameland, where the channel to the mainland is getting shallower. A quarter of a billion euros set aside for a new shipping route has been moved to necessary maintenance. Karremans promised: "We will always make sure Ameland stays accessible." Asked by VVD MP Bart Bikkers how, he answered that the ministry will simply keep dredging.

The minister opened his speech with a different plan: he said he is working on a monument in Zeeland for the people who built the Delta Works.