€34.5 billion shortage for infrastructure maintenance A recent article in Cobouw carried the headline: Alarming funding shortage for maintaining infrastructure. The Dutch Court of Audit points to a €34.5 billion gap in the national government’s draft budget. In the budget debates, the only remedy found was a reshuffling of funds. If the shortage means renovations …
The Double Challenge Facing the Infrastructure Sector The NATO Summit in The Hague marks a new reality for the infrastructure sector. While municipalities, provinces and Rijkswaterstaat (the Dutch equivalent of National Highways) are deeply engaged in renovating post-war infrastructure, a second, urgent task has emerged: preparing for the possibility of a large-scale military crisis. At …
Soft power Europe, in a world where hard power rules, must quickly shift from soft power to smart power to maintain its standard of living and, above all, its security. Since the USA became the dominant force in the world after WWII, Europe has suited itself in the role of soft power. Soft power is …
Europe has so much history that there is no room for the future I hope you have found peace and lightness around Christmas and New Year’s Eve with your family, your friends and also within yourself. I myself have found time to read about topics that interest and concern me: innovation and Europe. Thus, I …
Road closures on the road to 2025 2024 is almost in the rearview mirror. Despite road closures on the A2, A7 and A10 motorways, the threshold to 2025 is in sight. We are going to experience road closures more often in the coming years. Many of the bridges, viaducts and locks built during the post-WW …
Renewal of traffic and energy infrastructure badly needed Television and newspapers regularly report on the need to renew infrastructure. The many bridges, viaducts, locks and tunnels built in the reconstruction years after WWII are reaching the end of their lifespans. This leads to a wave of renovation and replacement projects. The people in charge are …
With John van der Steur. After the Olympics is before the Olympics We’re enjoying an amazing European sports summer. The Spanish national team dazzled everyone and became the first to win the European Football Championship for the fourth time. During the Paris Olympics, we’ve seen heroic performances from athletes from every country and in every …
Good news The Mobilé 4 flow & innovation team is very busy with projects. Together with our clients, we accelerate the flow of work in project organisations. Our target is 20%. On our WHY page, our clients tell to what extent we are achieving this: https://mobile4flow.com/. Despite these fantastic results, convincing people of our expertise …
The world faces major challenges, organisations are overloaded The world faces major challenges. Energy transition and climate adaptation are two of them. The challenge of renovating Europe’s infrastructure also belongs on the list. We want to avoid a second Ponta Morandi (the bridge in Genoa that collapsed) or Grimburgwal (the collapsed quay in Amsterdam). The …
Happy New Year! I have good news for you: also in 2024 the end of the world is probably not going to happen. Human ingenuity and organisational talent are so strong that we can master the great challenges of our time, provided that governments and private companies work together. Over the Christmas holidays, I read …