A little less economic Darwinism please!

Heijmans has halted work on the N23/Westfrisiaweg. After the misery with the widening of the A15, another conflict at the cutting edge between one of the country's largest builders and the government. Where two fight, two are at fault. So teaches an old wisdom. But hasn't the government lost sight of its role a bit?

The market pays for our infrastructure

The parties are arguing about the extra costs caused by Heijmans having to preload the soil longer. I don't know the substance of the case. What I do know is that this kind of conflict happens more often. The information provided in advance about the soil then turns out afterwards (during execution) not to be entirely correct after all. What I also know is that this risk is often borne by the contractor via a "take it or leave it" contract.

The end of the story then is that the contractor contributes out of his own pocket to the realization of a piece of infrastructure in the Netherlands. Is this desirable? Proponents will cry that at least this way the government manages to limit budget overruns. That may be true, but doesn't the role of government go beyond that.

Government neglects its own duty

Realizing public goods such as roads is one of the core functions of government. Indeed, it is one of the reasons we ever chose to have a government. However, that also means that a government that, by cleverly contracting, lets a market party pay for part of the construction costs, is in effect thereby failing in its own task.

Such actions do not befit a government

Over the years, the government has increasingly come to see itself as a business. In the process, it has quickly adopted economic Darwinism. In order to survive, its own interests (no budget overrun) come first. Even if that is at the expense of the contractor. Such actions do not suit a government. The Council of State already wrote in 2004 that the public assessment involves more than just costs and benefits.

Rijkswaterstaat, too, according to the latest Market Vision, does not want this kind of problem in the future. Cooperation is now the key word. That is a step in the right direction. The challenge now is to find a form of cooperation that ensures that, on the one hand, the government pays a market-based price and, on the other hand, the contractor is actually paid for the work he performs. Even if there are setbacks on the work. That is another challenge in itself.