Partnership for exploratory phase of Koehool-Lauwersmeer dike strenghtening

On Thursday 2 February 2017, Oeds Bijlsma, Secretary/Director of the Friesland Water Authority, and Maurits Schilt, Manager of the Witteveen+Bos office at Heerenveen, signed a contract for performance of the exploratory phase of the Koehool-Lauwersmeer dike strengthening project.

The Koehool-Lauwersmeer project of the Friesland Water Authority will provide 23.15 km of strengthening along the Friesian Islands coast over a total dike length of 47.9 km. At a number of places the dike covering has been rejected. The project is part of the National Flood Protection Programme.

The object of the exploratory phase is to adopt a preferred alternative before year-end 2018, together with a plan of action for the next phase. To achieve this schedule, the Friesland Water Authority called for tenders for a master contract for consulting and engineering services.

The Friesland Water Authority wanted to engage a single collaboration partner to be able to accommodate all required services efficiently in a way that reduces costs. It therefore sent out a call for tenders, with selection based entirely on quality but with the method of collaboration a key criterion for selection. After a comprehensive selection procedure, Witteveen+Bos emerged as the best tenderer and will extensively support the Friesland Water Authority throughout the exploratory programme and possibly the subsequent phases.

The contract was established at the time of signature. Both parties look forward to cordial collaboration and are convinced of a successful end-result.