Boskalis to Create an Artificial Island in Amsterdam

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has been contracted by the municipality of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to construct an artificial island for residential housing in the IJmeer lake adjacent to the existing IJburg islands. The contract is valued at EUR 85 million ($101.2 million USD). Work should begin in the summer of 2018 and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2020.

For the first phase of the project, 82 hect-ares (203 acres) of land will be created by constructing both soft and hard bank protection and filling the reclamation area with nearly 9 million cubic meters (11.8 million cubic yards) of sand. In addition, 3,500 kilometers (2,170 miles) of vertical drains will be used to improve the soil. There is an option to create an additional 53 hectares (131 acres) of land but this work is not part of the contract value. In addition to this artificial island Boskalis will also create a nature area of reeds and mussel bed measuring more than 3 hectares (7 acres).