Speech staatssecretaris Snel over watermanagement tijdens handelsmissie Vietnam

Toespraak | 10-04-2019

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your warm welcome to Hanoi.

It’s great to be here - what a magnificent city.

These visits are always too short, so I’m afraid I will not be able to see all I wish to see of Hanoi.

But I’m sure I will visit your country again.

For now, I am very pleased to be able to share my thoughts with you.

I am here, of course, to speak with you about the importance of solid finances to realise infrastructural projects.

Especially the water projects – which serve both our wellbeing as they do our welfare.

But before I get into that, I’d like to give you some background.

I’d like to place my story in a historical perspective.

[…]

Back when Hanoi was still called Thang Long, the Dutch were establishing their first water authorities.

We were still a pretty disorganised crowd then.

There were internal power struggles and external threats.

The first district water control board was that of the Rijnland – a region in the western part of the country containing the cities of Leiden and Haarlem.

The district water control board Rijnland was founded in 1255.

A good three centuries before our nation would experience its Golden Age.

So long before we started trading globally and establishing trading posts in other countries, we were organising the protection of our small country against the North Sea and major European river systems.

Since 1255 the Netherlands has seen many changes.

We have witnessed and fought many conflicts, had different regimes, experienced occupation and liberation, lost land to the sea and reclaimed it.

But through all the centuries our water control boards remained.

Throughout our history groups of people have come together to organise the protection of their cities, villages and farmlands against flooding.

People from different districts, perhaps with different dialects and customs, needed to cooperate to serve a shared interest.

Arguing or not speaking at all was never an option.

They needed to find common ground … or disappear beneath the waves …

[…]

Four weeks ago all citizens in the Netherlands were given the opportunity to vote for the regional water authorities.

These are democratic elections and the water authorities are the oldest democratic institutions in the Netherlands (maybe even in Europe).

There are currently 21 water boards in the Netherlands.

They still perform the same tasks as they did in the 13th century.

Because the fact remains that the Netherlands will always need to protect itself against rising tides.

A quarter of our nation territory lies below sea level.

60% of my country would flood if we were to stop our active water management, affecting 80% of the population.

So what does it take?

The water authorities maintain 18.000 km of dykes, 225.000 km of waterways and 7.500 km of roads.

They purify two billion cubic meters of waste water every year.

The work is done by 12.000 people.

All this must be paid for, of course.

Year in, year out.

And never should any other form of government expenditure push away our investments in water safety or water management.

To finance this, our water authorities are allowed to collect their own taxes.

3 different types of tax, in fact:

• The first is a tax for cleaning waste water or discharge that flows directly into the sewage system.Households and companies both pay.
• The second type concerns the protection against flooding and canal maintenance tax.Households and companies pay different rates for this.
• The third type of tax is the pollution tax.This is a special tax for households and companies that discharge their waste water directly into the soil or canals instead of via the regular sewage system.

The first two types of tax are the most common and generate roughly 2,6 billion euro’s in tax revenue.

[…]

When the taxes were first introduced, only companies were charged.

The water boards felt it was the companies that profited most from being protected against flooding.

The thing that surprised me was – and I checked this when preparing my speech for today – there were no protests or complaints against the introduction of the tax.

The reason is that all those that paid it, immediately saw that their money was well spent.

The water board tax was and still is, a very direct tax.

Citizens, farmers and companies directly experience the advantages of the system.

And the water boards make sure they communicate very clearly about all their work and maintenance.

(Do not underestimate the power of well-timed communication …)

Now you understand why we have this century-old election for our water authorities: No taxation without representation!

[…]

What we realised after some time is that taxes did not always suffice.

Sometimes more money was needed.

Or sometimes one water board needed more money than another.

So, in 1952 the boards established their own bank: The NWB Bank.

Why borrow at high interest rates, when the boards could be helping each other?

We didn’t know then how much we would need this facility a year later when the Netherlands experienced a huge flood.

On February 1 1953, 3 of our provinces were flooded and 1800 people drowned.

It was a national disaster.

And it was to be the immediate cause to design and build the Delta Works.

A project that took 35 years and 5 billion euro’s to complete.

[…]

Today the NWB Bank has lending capital of almost 90 billion euro’s.

It is ranked as 1 of the safest banks in the world.

The bank is exactly what a bank should be: conservative and careful.

It does not design complex financial products or invest in risky endeavours.

The bank has a triple A-rating and no profit incentive.

All its funding is sustainable.

Today, the bank also provides loans for municipalities, schools and other social projects.

[…]

I think what the previous makes very clear is that without taxation and sound bookkeeping, financing large infrastructural projects is impossible.

In other words – and this is my message to you today: Without money management there is no water management.

[…]

Does this mean that once the books are in order the sky is the limit?

No. It does not.

We must be held accountable for all the tax money spent.

And we must be prudent when it comes to spending public funds.

We are always looking for more cost-effective methods of working.

Can it be done cheaper without compromising quality and safety?

A few years ago, it appeared it could.

The Delta Works projects that was finalised in 1985 could never be done now.

Too big, too expensive.

We needed a new method.

This method is what we call building with nature.

Instead of combatting water and fighting the elements, we are embracing the facts as they are.

It has resulted in a project called Room for the River.

In total this project encompasses 30 smaller projects.

Our budget is roughly 2.2 billion euro’s.

And because its 30 smaller projects instead of one enormous 1, we can better manage it.

Each project has its own team, budget and timetable.

Instead of trying to move a mountain all at once, we are shifting it stone by stone.

It has turned out to be a great success.

Affordable and safe.

And the great thing is, all projects are partnerships.

National departments work together with residents, local and regional authorities and businesses.

And because everyone is involved, all understand what they are paying for and what they shall be getting in return.

The result is a safe and very satisfied local community.

And with that we have come full circle, I think.

In the 12th century the district water boards executed small scale projects on a local or regional level.

In more recent history we were forced to take on enormous projects on a national level, of which the Delta Works are a result.

And now we are back to local and regional projects, with our building with nature philosophy.

Small scale, one step at a time, affordable, manageable and above all: Safe.

It’s a smart way to take on water works and an excellent way to manage finances.

Thank you very much.

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