Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe and Flevoland together want to build an additional 220,000 homes. But the northern provinces can only achieve this if major investments are made in railway connections, the four provinces said in a joint message on Monday. The municipalities of Assen, Emmen, Leeuwarden and Groningen are also behind the plan.
At the request of the House of Representatives, the four provinces drew up the Delta Plan for the Northern Netherlands. This plan provides 80,000 new homes in Flevoland, 50,000 in Groningen County, 45,000 in Friesland and another 45,000 in Drenthe. The numbers add up to previous plans for 100,000 new homes.
The provinces say the construction of many new homes is only possible if € 9.5 billion is allocated to improving infrastructure. This relates to, among other things, Lelylijn, a new and fast train line with Randstad. According to the provinces, there must also be a new connection between Groningen and his chant, the so-called Lower Saxony Line. According to the northern provinces, the existing connections must also be improved.
According to the municipalities and governorates concerned, the advantages of investing in infrastructure outweigh the disadvantages. “If the economic potential of the northern Netherlands could be fully exploited, the value of regional production of goods and services would grow by around € 24 billion annually.”
