Northern provinces team up to build 220,000 new homes

The northern provinces of Drenthe, Friesland, Flevoland and Groningen announced they will work together to create 220 thousand new homes in addition to the existing plans for new housing. The construction work will be undertaken in an effort to tackle the Dutch housing crisis.

Included in the Deltaplan vision is a call to expand rail connections both regionally and internationally.

Originally, 100 thousand apartments were set to be built in the Northern provinces. In the ‘Deltaplan for and from the North’ the goal was bumped up to 320 thousand. By 2035, the goal is to have built a million more new homes in the northern provinces.

Part of the plan is to provide improved transportation options for the newcomers such as the Lelylijn, a train connection from the northern provinces to the Randstad. “In order to consolidate the northern contribution to the housing challenge and the economic growth potential, excellent (inter)national and (inter)regional accessibility is required”, the provinces stated.

The Deltaplan includes a desire to see a second train link between Enschede and Groningen via Emmen called the Nedersaksenlijn. This line will also link up to the German train network.

Upgrading train connections will cost around 9.5 billion euros, the provinces estimated. “The benefits outweigh the costs”, the provinces wrote. “If the economic potential of the northern Netherlands is fully utilized, the value of the regional production of goods and services will grow by some 24 billion a year.”

The 220 thousand new apartments will be split between Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland and Groningen. In Drenthe, 45 thousand new apartments are set to be constructed, in Flevoland 80 thousand, in Friesland 45 thousand and in Groningen 50 thousand.