The Dutch government plans to temporarily disassemble a historic bridge that was built in 1927 to make way for Jeff Bezos's superyacht.
Netherland's local shipbuilder Oceanco will be completing the $500 million Jeff Bezos's superyacht with a measurement of 417 feet in length.
In order to get the yacht functioning, it must sail through the city of Rotterdam, beneath the city's iconic bridge.
The bridge in Rotterdam is named The De Hef bridge. Unfortunately, it is not tall enough to support the ship's three massive masts, which exceed the bridge's clearance of 130 feet.
However, Bezos and officials from the city of Rotterdam have come up with a solution.
The Representative of the City of Rotterdam, Frances Van Heijst, stated that the possible solution would be to disassemble the middle section of the bridge to make room for the superyacht.
Rotterdam Bridge
As reported by NL Times, the Bridge in Rotterdam has recently made international headlines due to the need to temporarily remove a section of the historic bridge for a superyacht owned by former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to sail through the bridge.
However, City Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb clarified that no permission had been requested from the municipality of Rotterdam to dismantle the center section of the drawbridge temporarily.
Later this summer, the gigantic yacht owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the world's second-richest man, to pass through shall pass through.
Unfortunately, the De Hef bridge does not have enough vertical clearance for the boat, with a maximum vertical clearance of more than 46 meters.
Dismantling Rotterdam Bridge: An Important Project
Rotterdam officials yielded to the billionaire, the world's second-richest person, given the project's significance to the local economy.
CNBC reported that Rotterdam council project leader Marcel Walravens called the construction of the superyacht "a very important project" economically, according to local broadcaster Rijnmond. Dismantling the bridge was the "only alternative," he said.
Oceano will pay for the cost of the dismantling operation. It's unclear if Bezos, worth roughly $176 billion, will pay for any disassembly costs.
Dismay From Rotterdam residents
Unfortunately, local residents from Rotterdam expressed dismay and opposed disassembling the bridge to cater to Jeff Bezos' superyacht.
Due to this opposition, residents made a Facebook event with more than 3,900 persons 'interested' calling for Rotterdam citizens to throw rotten eggs at Jeff Bezos's newly constructed superyacht as it passes by the disassembled historic Dutch bridge.
"Rotterdam was built from the rubble by the people of Rotterdam, and we don't just take that apart for the phallic symbol of a megalomaniac billionaire. Not without a fight!!" event organizers wrote on Facebook.
As previously reported by Daily Mail, Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has agreed to pay for the yacht's passage through the United States with a hefty price of £400million. The superyacht is expected to be finished in the Netherlands later this year.
It is reported that the yacht will surpass the current largest ocean-going passenger yacht, the Sea Cloud.
