ABSTRACT
The Westerscheldetunnel is a bored tunnel in the Netherlands, in the Province of Zeeland. Initially, the plan was that the tunnel would be financed by the private sector. When this proved to be impossible, the central government and the Province of Zeeland set up a limited company to act as the client for the construction project and to operate the toll tunnel for 30 years. The government and the province are the two sole shareholders in the company. A design and build contract for the tunnel and approach roads was used to provide the appropriate risk allocation and also because of the lack of expertise of the client with bored tunnels. With hindsight, this form of contract was only useful for the tunnel element of the project. However, significant changes were made to the contract during the course of the project, which has now been completed successfully.
