Zuiderzee Works - The Fifth Polder

The Fifth Polder

It was intended to build a south-western polder, the Markerwaard, at several points during the project, but other polders took precedence. Parts of it have been built; in 1941 it was decided to begin work on the first section of dike, but the German occupiers stopped construction that same year. This dike originated on Marken, the last of the IJsselmeer islands, and went north for some 2 km where it ends abruptly today. After World War II, the eastern polder was chosen as the next project, but Marken was not wholly ignored; on October 17, 1957 a 3.5 km long dike was closed, running south of the now former island to the North Holland mainland.

When construction started in 1959 on a new dike it had not yet been decided whether this would be the northern dike of Southern Flevoland or the southern dike of the Markerwaard, but the choice eventually fell to the former and another chance for the Markerwaard had passed. A minor flood near Amsterdam in 1960 had demonstrated the danger a large IJsselmeer still presented. A further planned element of the Markerwaard was subsequently executed: a 28 km dike between Lelystad and Enkhuizen, including two complexes of locks and discharge sluices at either end, was to split the IJsselmeer in two, with the largest portion (1250 km²) continuing as the IJsselmeer and the smaller lake (700 km²) being named the Markermeer. Construction of this dike, known later as the Houtribdijk or Markerwaarddijk, progressed slowly, lasting from 1963 to 1975, after which it also served as an important road connection between the north of North Holland and the eastern Netherlands. The Houtribdijk did not however result in the construction of the rest of the Markerwaard, as many had hoped.

The debate on whether to build the Markerwaard continued for years. The need for new agricultural land had mostly disappeared by this time and extra space for housing was unnecessary in this region. The existing ecological and recreational value of the Markermeer was considered by many to be equal or superior to any potential such value the Markerwaard would offer. Doubts began to surface about the cost-effectiveness of the polder. The original post-war designs had called for a 410 km² polder yet many different proposals were later put forth in an effort to combine the benefits of both the Markerwaard and Markermeer, all to no avail. Although cabinets had intended to proceed with the Markerwaard, it was decided to indefinitely postpone the project in September 1986. A proposed alternative is to use the lake as a water reservoir for hydropower combined with wind-power from windmills on the dikes, eliminating the unpredictability of the latter – when there is an overcapacity of wind, use that to fill the lake and when there is not enough, use the high water level for hydropower.

The loss of the Markerwaard did not affect plans to create a new province out of the polders. The older Wieringermeer in the north, long since part of North Holland, would not become a part of it, but the municipalities of the other three and the islands of the Noordoostpolder would together form the 12th province of the Netherlands, Flevoland. The need for a new province was not immediately clear; Urk and the Noordoostpolder had been part of Overijssel up to that point and Dronten fell under Gelderland. After the new municipalities of Southern Flevoland were established in 1984, belonging to no province as was the case with Lelystad, the provincial issue required renewed attention. With only six municipalities and without the Markerwaard the area was considered by opponents to be too light for an entire province, but the polder municipalities were unanimous in their desire: on January 1, 1986 the province of Flevoland was inaugurated. With a population of 356.400 (2004) it is the least populous province, but the province of Zeeland has only 378.300 and Flevoland has a higher population density than four other provinces.

The Zuiderzee Works had come to an end. The administration responsible for the construction and development of the new land had changed names over the years, but it had now served its purpose; in 1996 it was reorganised as a normal administration in charge of maintaining the sluices, locks, bridges and dikes in the region. The Zuiderzee Works had successfully transformed the once capricious heart of the Netherlands into fertile agricultural land with many new communities combined with an extensive fresh water supply and, although not originally envisioned, a collection of valuable ecological and recreational areas.