Caretaker infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen is maintaining her preference for bicycle and pedestrian tunnels linking Amsterdam with its northern flank, she said in a letter to the city council made public on Thursday.

Schultz objects to the bridge links over the IJ waterway which are favoured by the council. Amsterdam municipality is scheduled to debate ‘the jump to the north’ next week, the Parool has reported.

The chief drawback to the bridge proposals is that they will have to be at least 11 metres above water level to permit unhindered passage of shipping in the busy IJ. And that means a lot of work for cyclists who are more used to the flat. ‘This is welcome news to fans of the Ventoux mountain race,’ Schultz said.

Separately, the council has approved a further feasibility study for a cable car link between the city centre and the north, the Parool has revealed.

Wim Wessels, who is designing the plan, said it will not be a ski-lift sort of project nor a tourist attraction but a real transport link similar to existing cable car schemes in London, Koblenz and Caracas.