Italian vs Dutch flood infrastructure

This article on Venice’s flood problems has an interesting set of facts:

The Italians proposed the “Mose” project (gates that would rise in high tides to protect Venice) in 1992. It may be finished in 2023 (41 31 years later) at an estimated cost of €8 billion. Mose has 1.6 km of barriers.

The Dutch proposed the Delta project in ±1954 (right after the 1953 floods) and it was completed in stages until 1997 (building capacity over 43 years). It cost €7 billion (probably not adjusted for inflation). The Delta works stretch over 30km.

Superficially, the Dutch built 20x more protection — that’s in use — for about the same price. My one-handed observation is that they may be better at delivery than the Italians. Momma mia!

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Author: David Zetland

I'm a political-economist from California who now lives in Amsterdam.

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