New Amsterdam metro link setback

[Puffin13]

New Amsterdam metro link setback
19/02/2009

Construction on the troubled mega-project has come to a virtual standstill.

AMSTERDAM -- Amsterdam Council's transport officer Tjeerd Herrema has resigned following the news that the capital's new North-South metro line will cost yet more.

It now appears the scale of the metro link may have to be reduced, and a commission is being set up to see whether the line will be worth the soaring costs. Many local Amsterdam politicians are now openly considering that it may have to be abandoned, with only conservative VVD councillors saying this is not an option.

The latest figures indicate construction costs will come in a further EUR 290 million over the present budget forecast of 2.1 billion. So far, costly problems have included subsidence of listed buildings along the proposed metro route in the historic city centre.

The completion date for the project has also once again been put back: instead of 2015, it is now being projected as 2017. Originally, it was scheduled to be ready in 2011 at a cost of just EUR 1.46 billion.

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