The infrastructure project might go a small way towards improving North/South inequality in the Netherlands
There is more and more support in the Dutch parliament for a fast train connection between Amsterdam and Groningen/Leeuwarden, called the ‘Lelylijn’. CDA MP Mustafa Amhaouch said recently that a ‘Delta Plan’ must be drawn up for the train-line. The Delta-works are a series of public infrastructure projects intended to protect the Southern Netherlands from flooding that begun in 1958 and were complete by 1990.
Were a ‘Lelylijn’ to take shape, says Amhaouch, the Northern Netherlands becomes a reasonable commuting location for people that work in cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht, which could help with the Netherlands’ drastic housing shortage, reports RTV Drenthe.
Amhaouch’s proposal is supported by the VVD (Cenre-Right, the party of Dutch PM Mark Rutte), PvdA (Labour Party), SP (Socalist Party) and SGP (a right-wing social and political relic that represents the interest of the Netherlands most backwards-looking residents).
The plan can count on positive support from fellow MPs. “I have to compliment Mr Amhaouch on his plea for the Northern Netherlands,” says Groninger William Moorlag MP (PvdA).
“This morning I wanted to take the train from Blauwestad to The Hague, but I saw that there was a delay at Zwolle. I was on the road for more than four hours”, says Moorlag.
Image: the Lelylijn route via Wikimedia