A committee headed by former Agriculture Minister Cees Veerman is recommending that Amsterdam's disputed metro tunnel project should continue. Last year the building of the new North-South Line caused severe subsidence which seriously damaged a number of historic houses along Vijzelgracht, which were built on a foundation of wooden poles. The project was repeatedly halted to repair or prevent damage. The Veerman committee was asked to investigate the options: repair the damage and complete the project, or terminate the tunnel boring – made problematic by the sandy soil - and face huge financial claims.

The committee was appointed when the costs of the underground railway project soared. Initially estimated to cost 1.4 billion euros, the line is now expected to cost Amsterdam and the national budget 3.1 billion. Amsterdam councillor Tjeerd Herrema, who was responsible for the project, resigned in February when the deficit rose by another couple of hundred million euros.

Refund claims

At a city hall press conference in Amsterdam, Mr Veerman summarised the arguments against breaking off the building project. He made it clear that terminating the project would lead to claims by the national government for a refund of the subsidies supplied to the city of Amsterdam. Building companies which are already working on the construction of tunnels and stations have invested heavily in specialised equipment and staff, and would also lodge refund claims.

Amsterdam would also be left with a number of substantial holes in the ground for which an alternative use is not easy to find. Some tunnel sections which are already finished could be transformed into tramway tunnels. For others, conversion into underground parking garages, nightclubs or museums has been suggested. The economic benefits of such makeshift solutions will never outweigh the benefits of a completed metro line, Mr Veerman indicated.

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Economic development

The North-South Line is deemed essential for Amsterdam's economic development. Linking the isolated part of the city north of the river Ij with the city centre on the southern shore and the business district in the south, it extends the current metro network, which is basically a three-quarter ring line with a branch to Amstelveen in the South. If the work continues, the North-South Line will be completed in 2017.

Opponents of the scheme point to the risks of trying untested technology under the historic city centre, and refer to calamitous developments in Cologne, where the historical archive collapsed as a result of metro tunnel building under similar condition to Amsterdam's. They add that the current metro line, in combination with the existing surface tramway network, is capable of handling the city's passenger traffic.

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Click here for the Amsterdam's official English page on the North-South Line