90 years Afsluitdijk

The Afsluitdijk: 32 kilometers long and turned 90 years old on Saturday 28 May. The very first plans for the closure of the Zuiderzee date back to the 17th century and were soon dismissed as impracticable. The big one 1916 flood disaster finally led to the decision to implement the plans for segregation, which had developed for many years, actually implemented.

The Afsluitdijk brought great concerns, but also safety for residents around the Zuiderzee. When the arrival of the dike is a fact, many protests arise. Because how were all those fishermen supposed to stay alive, on the shore of a freshwater lake? Most of the fish would disappear, the wild sea would become a calm lake and so new sources of income had to be sought.

The first plans about the arrival of a support law for the fishermen on the Zuiderzee in connection with the Afsluitdijk, talk about compensation for all Zuiderzee fishermen. But, as soon as the Zuiderzee Aid Act actually comes into effect, this turns out to be a huge disillusion for the fishermen: it becomes support based on the poor law.

2022 Chaos around Afsluitdijk renovation complete: work on locks is stopped and tendered again.
Due to incorrect calculations by Rijkswaterstaat, the renovation of the scutters in the Afsluitdijk turned out to cost hundreds of millions extra. Now, in the ongoing dispute between Rijkswaterstaat and the construction companies involved, it has been decided to stop the work and refocus the assignment.