The European Investment Bank ( EIB ) has signed a €500 million ( US$587.39 million ) loan with the GelreGroen consortium, which is responsible for the construction and upgrade of the final section of the A12/A15 motorway in the eastern part of the Netherlands.

The project finalizes a key cross-country motorway corridor in the Netherlands, linking the Rotterdam harbour to the German border. This stretch of motorway is located on the core TEN-T road network and on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor.

The GelreGroen consortium has been awarded the contract to design, build, finance, and maintain the project over the coming two decades.

“In our recent investment survey, a quarter of Dutch businesses mentioned incomplete transport infrastructure as a barrier to investment. Together with our lending towards sustainable urban and inter-urban mobility, this kind of investment is crucial for Dutch and European competitiveness,” says EIB vice president Robert de Groot.

The project will see the construction of a 12-kilometre section of roadway extending the A15 from Ressen to the A12, the widening of the existing A15 between Valburg and Ressen, as well as a widening of 11 kilometres on the existing A12 road between Duiven and Oud-Dijk.

The new 12-kilometre extension of the A15 will include a sunken section and bridges over existing infrastructure. On both the A12 and A15 motorways, several junctions will be redesigned and reconstructed.