A59 Motorway

Noord Brabant, The Netherlands
Successful Handback of the Netherland’s first public-private partnership (PPP) contract for road infrastructure
17th April 2003  Financial Close
2003 - 2006 Construction Period
18 years Concession Period
2020 Handback
A59 Motorway

The background

The A59 is the Netherlands’ first public-private partnership (PPP) contract for road infrastructure. On 31st December 2020, the project reached the end of its 18-year concession period and was successfully handed back to the Province of North Brabant. The A59 is Invesis’ first project to reach the end of its contract and be returned to client management.  

The N59 highway, which runs between Rosmalen and Geffen in the Netherlands, required reconstruction to address traffic bottlenecks that encouraged motorists to shortcut through residential areas to avoid traffic. Transformation of the N59 was necessary to boost the economy, alleviate congestion within local towns and enable the efficient transportation of goods and services. 

In 2006, the Province of North-Brabant converted the N59 highway into the A59, through partnering with Poort van Den Bosch consortium comprising of Invesis, Boskalis and Fluor Infrastructure. The A59 is now a fully-fledged motorway with four connections, a grade-separated intersection, a bicycle tunnel, viaducts and other various environmental facilities.  

Due to the life cycle approach of the PPP model, and excellent relationships built between the client and Poort van Den Bosch consortium, the project was handed back to the client in immaculate condition. 

Client

Province of North Brabant

Capital Value

€131m

Sponsor/Investor

Invesis, Boskalis, Fluor Infrastructure

Consortium

Poort van den Bosch b.v

Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)

BAM Civiel and BAM Wegen, Boskalis and Fluor Infrastructure

Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

Fluor Infrastructure

Business value

For the Province of North-Brabant, receiving an asset back in a condition which is commensurate with the terms of the contract signed 18 years prior was essential to avoid disruption to key public services, alleviate congestion within local towns and enable the efficient transportation of goods and services, all of which has boosted the economy of the area over the lifetime of the project. 

The successful handback could boost the PPP sector and fuel discussions about the next phase of PPPs in The Netherlands. 

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Key features

By using the PPP contract approach and partnering with the Poort van Den Bosch consortium, the project;  

  • was delivered five years in advance of the original schedule  
  • received the European Construction Industry (ECI) ACTIVE Project of the Year Award in 2006 with the jury praising several features, including the project’s safety record, its cost reduction compared with traditional tendering, and its excellent community relations and traffic management – the overall costs were 14 percent lower than the costs of a traditional design-bid-build contracting process 
  • was handed back to the client in immaculate condition and on time, despite the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic and social distancing regulations

    •  
    Pieter Mali, Project Director of Poort van den Bosch and our consortium partner says, ‘The success of this first PPP road project in the Netherlands is characterised by excellent cooperation between all parties, good quality of the execution of the work and the continuity of the employees on the project, some of whom have been involved for almost twenty years. As a result, road users have had a safe and clean road at their disposal for fifteen years.’