Rijkswaterstaat awarded the OpenIJ consortium a €600m contract in mid-2015 to design, construct, finance and maintain the new sea lock. Construction is being carried out by a 50/50 joint venture between BAM and VolkerWessels.
The loss mainly relates to the redesign of the two caissons that hold the lock doors. The change is needed to prevent torsion and cracking during immersion. The new design has specified reinforced caissons and heavy temporary structures. Recent implementation works have revealed significantly higher costs for specialist materials and equipment and personnel over the prolonged construction period.
For BAM, this will lead to an estimated additional project loss of around €55m in the fourth quarter of this year. As a consequence, BAM expects an adjusted result before tax for the full year 2017, which will be substantially lower compared to 2016.
BAM CEO Rob van Wingerden said: “We are very disappointed with this significant cost overrun. We are working with our joint venture partner in close consultation with the client to deliver this important project for the Amsterdam region. Despite this setback we remain confident we are on the right track to realise our strategic ambitions.”
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