The OpenIJ consortium – made up of BAM-PGGM, VolkerWessels and DIF - will design, construct, finance and maintain the €500m (£367m) project.
The new Ijmond sea entrance is part of Rijkswaterstaat’s locks programme. Rijkswaterstaat, the Province of North Holland, the City of Amsterdam, Port of Amsterdam and the Municipality of Velsen have worked together to bring about the project, which is co-funded by the TEN-T programme of the European Union.
After almost 100 years in operation the Northern lock in Ijmuiden will be replaced with a new, larger lock system to improve the accessibility of the port of Amsterdam.
Construction activities will be carried out by a BAM Infra and VolkerWessels joint venture. The work will begin early 2016 with the new lock available for shipping at the end of 2019. Dredging activities will be carried out by subcontractors Van Oord and Boskalis. The new lock will then be maintained by OpenIJ for 26 years.
The financing structure included bank loan facilities, a European Investment Bank facility and equity financing.
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