New opportunities for public–private partnerships in the groningen earthquake zone

Abstract

Ever since, the recognition of the causality between earthquakes in the Northern part of the Netherlands, more specific the Region Groningen, gas production and the ensuing damage to houses and buildings in that area, society faces big challenges in policy-making. Not in the least because the above-mentioned damage to houses caused by earthquakes make inhabitants feel unsafe in their own houses. Unfortunately, the region has to deal with a lack of jobs and a great number of unemployed and disabled people as well. In order to create new opportunities for the region, local authorities have developed measures in favour of repairing damaged houses as well as measures on the economic perspective of the region, more particularly employment opportunities. One of the measures is the use of tenders for the damage repair, which contain mandatory social conditions. The aim of these conditions is, on the one hand, to improve the chances of local enterprises to get tenders awarded and, on the other hand, to improve the creation of new jobs for inhabitants in the region. The question is whether this policy will be effective. Projects of the research group Legal Aspects of the Labour Market show that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) create job openings, but are not able to get them fulfilled. Lack of cooperation by local authorities seems to be the cause of this failure. SMEs are aiming to partnerships with the local authorities in which they have more self-control and self-regulation in order to fulfil their vacancies. This requires a new way of governance of the local authorities. New forms of public–private partnerships are needed. The question we address is which type of public–private partnerships can contribute to creating better opportunities for economic and employment growth in the Groningen earthquake zone.