The Netherlands plans to spend EUR 839 million on its Flood Protection Programme (HWBP) in 2027, the highest annual amount among the years shown in the draft 2027 Delta Fund budget, published in September 2026. The joint spending of central government and the 21 water boards then falls to EUR 296 million in 2031 in the same overview, which totals EUR 10,513 million.
The old programme is almost finished
The predecessor programme, HWBP-2, covers 87 projects and 362 km of dike. By 31 December 2025, 86 projects had been delivered. The last, the Markermeerdijk between Hoorn, Edam and Amsterdam, is due for completion in the second quarter of 2027. At that date the whole programme's cost estimate stood at EUR 2,883 million against a budget of EUR 2,866 million.
The next tranche is not fully funded
An extra EUR 2.5 billion is needed for HWBP projects in 2030–2036. The water boards raised EUR 1.25 billion. Central government's EUR 1 billion is a policy reservation in the 2026 budget, conditional on a review of the programme, and EUR 250 million was still to be filled in as of May 2025. Across flood safety, freshwater and adaptation, the Delta Programme Commissioner puts the need to 2050 at EUR 34–42 billion, against about EUR 29 billion assumed in the Delta Fund.
Big assets wait in the queue
The reinforced Afsluitdijk was commissioned on 1 October 2026, with a project budget of EUR 2,146 million under its design, build, finance and maintain contract. The next large replacement, the IJmuiden pumping and sluice complex, is estimated at EUR 1.4–2.3 billion and remains in the planning phase.
Which drinking water programmes are growing fastest, how they are financed and where permits and budgets constrain the pipeline are set out in the full brief. The full report, Water Infrastructure Investment and Project Pipeline in Netherlands, is available for USD 249. For a free overview, see Netherlands Country Snapshot.