AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands wants to redraw the map of Europe – literally.
Dubai built Palm Island. Now the world leaders in land reclamation are considering an island in the shape of a tulip to fight overcrowding and shield the coastline from the rising sea.
Supporters of the scheme say it will give Dutch companies a chance to showcase water management skills that are increasingly in demand due to global warming, but critics say the plan will be prohibitively expensive and harm delicate ecosystems.
While a poll in October by the research company TNS NIPO with the Red Cross showed that the Dutch were more afraid of flooding than a terrorist attack, many have a strong faith in Dutch expertise and technology to protect them from the water.
The Dutch Parliament has asked a commission on coastal development to look into the idea of building islands in the North Sea that could be used for housing, farming or a nature reserve, while at the same time helping to protect the coast.
“People live on top of each other in the Netherlands,” said Joop Atsma, the Chritian Democrat politician who sponsored a parliamentary motion on building in the North Sea. “We are hungry for land. A huge area is needed for building.”
Atsma says high land prices threaten the country’s position as one of the world’s exporter of agricultural products, and make a 100,000 hectare, or 247,000 acre, island potentially worth €10 billion, or $14.69 billion – enough of a return to fund the project.
A government body set up to promote innovation has drawn up proposals for an island about 50 kilometers, or 31 miles, long, sparking fierce debate which inspired one blogger to joke that a cannabis leaf may be a more suitable shape than the tulip on the formal plans.
“The Netherlands has a lot of know-how in terms of water,” said Maria Henneman of Innovation Platform. “It exports this knowledge but it is missing out on innovation. More experiments are needed in the fields of alternative energy, tides and wind.”
“Of course it is an expensive investment but with current technology a lot is possible.”
The Netherlands, literally the Low Countries, has a long history of pioneering technology to help it claw back land from the sea and fight recurrent flooding.
U.S. officials sought advice from Dutch experts after floods devastated New Orleans in 2005, and Dutch companies have been involved in coastal developments worldwide.
The Dutch company Boskalis developed techniques during the Zuiderzee and Delta projects to become the world’s largest dredger, helping reclaim land for Hong Kong’s airport and now working on Oman’s “Wave” project, a huge resort added to the coast.
Dubai’s island, which juts into the shallow waters of the Gulf in the shape of a palm tree, was built by the Dutch marine contractor Van Oord using more than 100 million cubic meters, or 3,500 cubic feet, of sand.
“I live far below sea level and I have never had wet feet at home,” Atsma said. “So much can be done with water management.”
One of the world’s most densely populated countries, with 16 million people living in an area about half the size of Scotland, a quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level and lies on the floodplains of three big rivers.
In 1932, work was completed on a mammoth 32-kilometer dike that closed the Zuiderzee off from the North Sea and allowed 1,650 square kilometers, or 640 square miles, of land to be drained.
After devastating floods in 1953 killed more than 1,800 people, the Dutch started one of the world’s largest construction schemes, the Delta project, to raise dikes, close sea estuaries and build a huge storm-surge barrier.
“Funny shapes like tulips, clogs and windmills are a good way to start a debate, but they should not be considered as realistic,” said Bert Groothuizen, spokesman for Van Oord, the builder of the Dubai palm island.
While Dubai’s Gulf rarely sees waves above 2 meters, or 6.5 feet, high, the North Sea is much stormier with waves of up to 10 meters.
“The seaward protection must be stronger than in the Arabian Gulf which means that construction costs are greater,” he said, adding it might be more realistic to extend Dutch beaches into the sea or move the main airport.
That idea was already floated after a plane crashed into an apartment block in Amsterdam in 1992, but it was shelved due to cost and environmental concerns. Nature-lovers have also scuttled plans to drain more land onshore.
Given rising sea levels, Van der Veen said it made more sense to protect existing land than build a new island.
See our slideshow of Best Caribbean Snorkeling.
