Prospects
The government's investment plans for the infrastructure offer excellent opportunities. The specific objective is to find a solution for various traffic bottlenecks to improve mobility. In the national budget the policy emphasis has been switched from road construction to management and maintenance. Annual expenditure on national highways is expected to rise substantially until 2008.
The government's Mobility Policy Document sets a target for an expansion of nearly 10% in the national highway network by the year 2010 in comparison with 2000. This expansion will, however, be insufficient to cope with the growth in traffic. In all probability various measures to make better use of the available capacity, including road pricing, will need to be introduced in order to cope with the extra volume of traffic.
The maintenance backlog is to be tackled in 2006 and 2007 under the KOSMOS project. The total budget for this project is between 330 and 390 millions euros. The aim is to implement projects with maximum private sector involvement and minimum disruption to the flow of traffic. Ballast Nedam has the necessary knowledge and expertise available.
Among other things, the national anti-congestion plan, Fileplan ZSM, is concerned with increasing capacity at peak times and promoting the flow of traffic. In the initial phase up to and including 2006 this will involve the provision of an additional 300 kilometres in rush-hours and additional (narrow) lanes.
During the coming years less of Ballast Nedam's work will consist of large, long-term projects. Given our experience in 2005, however, Ballast Nedam Infra is well placed to turn its competitiveness to advantage also in relation to smaller and less complex projects.
Ballast Nedam Infra is assuming that the pre-cast concrete market will continue returning to normal, although the recovery will not be rapid. We are consequently taking into account the possibility that results will remain under pressure. The raw materials market is in good shape.
The order book for the coming year is well filled. We are expecting a further improvement in the result in 2006.
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