The erotic centre which Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema wants to replace some of the red light district windows could be open in late 2031, she has told city councillors in answer to questions.

The city, she said, still needs to sign an agreement with national government, given the site earmarked for the centre is part of the Zuidas business district development plan. 

Halsema said the expectation is that 30,000 people will visit the centre every week, with most coming late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Much of that, she said, would depend on what is on at the centre in terms of entertainment, but that is years from being finalised.

According to current planning, councillors will decide at the end of this year whether or not to pursue the project and next year will decide on whether to invest in it. Costs to the city include readying the land for building work, boosting public transport, policing and closing city centre brothels.  

Then work can continue on sorting out the permits and a commercial company to run the project, Halsema said.  

Building work, she said, will start in 2029 at the earliest so that the centre can open its doors at the end of 2031. 

Despite the protests by some groups of sex workers, she said there is enough interest from people who work in hotels or from home, as well as the red light district.

D66, one of the city’s three coalition partners, had asked the mayor about the potential risk to teenagers at the nearby trade school. “It does not seem realistic to think that young people will engage in drugs or prostitution… because there is the erotic centre 500 metres from their school,” the mayor said.

The dangers to youngsters come from the internet, their neighbourhoods and their own networks, she said. “They move throughout the entire city and come into contact with everything. That is the way it is in a big city.”