2023-05-23 14:38:00
A job offer sows panic in Brussels: Beliris is looking for “a change process guide”. The teams to be accompanied are those who have been working for years on the gigantic construction site of metro 3 between Gare du Nord and Bordet, for which the federal fund Beliris is the contracting authority. The job posting, since removed from the Beliris site, states: “Beliris is currently facing an emergency suspension of one of its biggest projects: the construction of metro line 3. Over the next few months it will be confirmed whether this is a suspension or a permanent stop.” The construction site “put on hold”, it would be a question of relocating around twenty workers, announces L’Echo on Tuesday.
“We must tell the truth, there will be nuisances and tensions”: how will residents be cared for during the construction of metro 3 to the north?
North section of metro 3: here are the new plans of the 7 new stations (video and photos)
Reason for this movement on the Beliris human resources chessboard: the kilometers of tunnels and the 7 new stations would generate an “excess cost” that would no longer be bearable. According to our information, the quotes sent by the companies to Beliris would be almost two and a half times higher than the prices originally estimated. That is an amount of nearly 2.5 billion euros instead of 1.052 billion budgeted in 2018, then revised upwards to 1.4 billion in 2021. Last March, Beliris had further increased the budget for the North-Bordet section to almost 2 billion euros. Before receiving the latest quotes, which still increase the bill even if “a quote is negotiated”. In the office of Minister Karine Lalieux (PS) in charge of Beliris, we temper: “Beliris has absolutely not suspended the construction of metro 3 because it is simply not within its competence”, nuance Delphine Van Bladel, door- word of Karine Lalieux. “It is a political decision: it is the Brussels government that must decide on this file”.
”No decision has been taken at this stage”, assures Rudi Vervoort (PS)
Where does this panic come from? “This Monday, May 22, a note was given to the Brussels government, a kind of inventory as is done regularly on large sites,” continues the spokesperson for the socialist cabinet. “It mentions four options”: continue the program, suspend the program to analyze it further, substantially modify the program, stop everything. “It is up to the Brussels government to decide”. Which he will certainly do this Thursday during his weekly meeting.
In any case, this is what further complicates this pharaonic project, already undermined by the thorny problems of stability under the Palais du Midi (1st Albert-Nord section). While the construction site of the 2nd section under the Gare du Nord encounters the same problems as those of the Palais du Midi, even if they are on a smaller scale.
Remember that the Stib has put the construction site on hold there since February. On this occasion, the Brussels Minister for Mobility Elke Van den Brandt had argued that 22% of the total budget, estimated at 732 million euros, had already been spent at the end of 2022. What make her say that it is “totally unthinkable to abandon the works in progress”.
Metro 3 bogged down under the Palais du Midi: a construction site condemned to progress and an additional cost to be assumed by the Brussels government
At the end of the afternoon, Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) was surprised by the news. “We are very surprised. Beliris indeed informed us at the beginning of the week of the offers received. The metro remains an important project for the Brussels government! We are going to discuss it this Thursday in the government. No decision is made at this stage,” his cabinet said.
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