The megaproject effect. Entrepreneurship during the decision-making process of Maasvlakte II (1993-2008).

Abstract

In 1969, the Municipal Port Management of Rotterdam (hereinafter: the Port Management) proposed the first concrete ideas for an expansion of the port by Maasvlakte II. This Port Management is a department of the Municipality of Rotterdam and, as a result, decisions are made by the City Council. Within a few years these plans were put on ice, as a result of resistance from the local nature preservation and environmental pressure groups and the national government.1 Moreover, in the 1970s the decrease of the transhipment made an expansion unnecessary. Twenty years later, a new political basis was provided for port expansion. In order to fight the 1980s crisis, the Dutch national government chose the transport sector as the spearhead of national policy. In order to stimulate this sector, two ‘mainports’, or important distribution hubs, were pointed out as the economic centres of the Netherlands.2 These were airport Schiphol and the port of Rotterdam. Moreover, the Cabinet decided to create an integral planning procedure for the regions around the mainports. For example, in 1991, in the region of the port of Rotterdam, projects for the stimulation of the economic development were linked to the creation of new nature reserves.