Within a year a broadly-based committee of experts will be submitting a strategic advisory report to the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management on the basis of which a coherent programme can be developed for the 21st century. Apart from safety the report will cover environmental and nature aspects and the spatial planning in the Netherlands.
Water is regarded as a regulative principle in spatial planning.
A concrete example is the reservation of areas where water can temporarily be absorbed when river levels are exceptionally high or there is extremely heavy rainfall. Other countries often draw on the knowledge and expertise of the Netherlands in the fields of hydraulic engineering, water management and coastal zone and wetland management. This creates possibilities not just for scientific institutes, private industry and consultancy firms but also for the formation of strategic alliances. The State Secretary will this year be submitting an action programme to the Lower House in which priorities are set for Dutch assistance in water management projects in other countries. The Netherlands will assist Poland in taking measures to combat high water.