Construction group Ballast Nedam on Monday issued a profit warning blaming ‘ongoing cost overruns’ on its A15 public-private motorway partnership.

In addition, ‘disappointing project results’ will have an impact on the company’s infrastructure division, Ballast Nedam said in a statement.

On 7 July Ballast Nedam stated it would have to take a €87m loss on its 40% share in the A-Lanes consortium which is widening part of the A15 motorway from Rotterdam port to the Vaanplein junction.
 
However, the total cost overruns have now risen from €217m to €253m, taking Ballast Nedam’s share up to €100m.

Consortium

The ongoing cost overruns are having a ‘significant effect on the company’s solvency and liquidity position’, the company said. The other consortium members are Dutch construction group Strukton, John Laing from Britain and Austria’s Strabag.

One problem with the project, which had an original budget of €1.5bn, is changes in the planning ordered by the transport ministry. End users such as Shell, Eneco and Gasunie, who are not part of the consortium, have also made complex demands, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

The consortium members are still in talks about how the extra costs should be divided up and until that has been worked out, are not allowed to include any potential transport ministry compensation in their accounts.