The European Union said today that it will support with €2.7 million from the TEN-T Programme a series of studies to prepare the IJmuiden sea lock in the Netherlands for public-private partnership (PPP) procurement.

The studies, selected under the 2012 TEN-T Annual Programme Programme's priority on support for PPPs and innovative financial instruments, will investigate the technical, financial, spatial planning and tender preparation aspects of the new lock using a Design Build Finance and Maintain (DBFM) contract.

The objective is to increase the sea access capacity to the Port of Amsterdam to 125 million tons per year through the construction of a new sea lock allowing new Panamx ships to enter the port. The total investment volume of the new lock complex is €740 million.

The studies will lead to in the first DBFM project for large maritime infrastructure in the Netherlands. The results will have a significant impact on preparing the PPP contract and tender documentation, mitigating the risk of being the first such project. The use of PPP procurement will accelerate the works, which are scheduled to begin 10 years earlier than initially planned.

The initiative is set to be completed by the end of 2014.