Mr. Jan Hendrik Dronkers Director-General - Rijkswaterstaat
Sharing Space - Keynote Speech
Creating better solutions for challenges in spatial development
In a densely populated area such as as The Netherlands, the biggest challenge for Sharing Space is the creation of a higher degree of transparancy and therefore a deeper insight for decision makers, stakeholders and citizens. The results can be a bigger popular support for spatial development and faster decision making.
In this presentation the Director General of Rijkswaterstaat, will address the issue of planning new infrastructure with the aid of advanced IT, linking data from various sources in order to facilitate the decision making process.
Two showcases will be highlighted: the visualisation of the new Maastricht tunnel, part of the corridor Amsterdam - Luxembourg, and the Spatial Planning Programme Room for the River, an investment in the safety and vitality of the Dutch river basin region.
About Mr. Jan Hendrik Dronkers
Jan Hendrik Dronkers was born on 23 July 1956 in Enschede. One year later his family moved to Hengelo, where he attended primary school. He got his Civil Engineering degree in 1978. In 1979 he successfully completed a one-year postgraduate course in Technology Management in Dordrecht.
Following his study and military service in the Artillery Unit he decided to join RWS in Zwolle in 1981 and started out in the planning department, working on road design. The emergence of computers at that time had a major impact on the working methods, and this captured his attention. During this time he decided to follow Dutch Law at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in addition to work. He obtained his degree in 1985. After several management positions at RWS he became manager of the Traffic, Transport and Management division. During this period he was involved in major projects such as the Betuwe freight railway and the eastern section of the high-speed rail link. This paved the way for his following position: head of the Large Projects division (the high-speed rail link, the Betuwe railway, the West Scheldt Tunnel and the Maas projects). In his last year in this position, he was also asked to lead the Road Pricing project.
In 2000 he became Chief Engineer-Director of the North Holland office in Haarlem (800 people). At that time RWS was caught up in the middle of a building fraud scandal and had ineffective management. This led to a major reorganisation, with the office being downsized by 200 jobs. This was an extremely intense learning experience for him. After barely four years the targets were met and he was asked to become manager of the Roads and Road Safety division and also Deputy Director-General for Passenger Transport at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management in The Hague.
The Road Pricing project (an old acquaintance) became part of his responsibilities again, and with the arrival of the new cabinet his additional tasks included the MIRT programme (long-term programme for infrastructure, spatial planning and transport) and Project "Randstad Urgent", which is an interdepartmental project aimed at accelerating the decision process for many projects that are crucial to the Randstad (the urban region of the Netherlands situated between Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht).
In 2010 Jan Hendrik Dronkers became head of RWS (The Director-General of RWS).