Back to square one for Antwerp link

The European Commission has handed down its definitive opinion against the financing of the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp, forcing the government of Flanders to go back to the beginning by issuing a new tender for the project.

The Oosterweel connection, named after one of the villages that once stood on the banks of the river Scheldt, is a plan to complete the Antwerp Ring on the western side of the city, to ease congestion and speed up traffic from the port of Antwerp to the motorways leading north, south and east.

The problem for the government started five years ago, when, after a protest campaign and a referendum in Antwerp, the decision was made to change the connection from a viaduct (pictured) to a tunnel. That led to a substantial change in the project, the Commission said, but the government went ahead with the same contractors – the temporary consortium Noriant – on the same terms.

The Commission is now demanding a new tender for the project, since the basis on which Noriant was awarded the job has changed. If a new tender were issued, Noriant would have the right, under an agreement reached in October, to compensation of more than €37 million, plus a further €5.1 million for the intellectual property rights in its design for the portion of the project that remains unchanged. In return, Noriant dropped a legal action for compensation of nearly €324 million.

The Commission’s decision has been awaited for some time, but it will not hold back progress on the connection, Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts said. “At last we are rid of this millstone around our necks,” he told VRT Radio. “This will not lead to delays. We plan to break ground in 2017.”

That position was described by opposition party Groen as “totally unrealistic”.

Photo: BAM/Noriant