NETHERLANDS

NETHERLANDS / NEDERLAND.

Delta Plan (Delta Works).
Simplified map of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta.
Stamp issued on 16.02.1972.
Face value: 20 cents of Dutch guilder.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 30,000,000 copies.
Size: 36 x 25 mm.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 974.
- Scott No. 493 (943?).
- StampWorld No. 974.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1143.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 943.

The Delta Works (in Dutch, Deltawerken) is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works consist of dams, sluices, locks, dykes, levees, and storm surge barriers located in the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland. Unlike the Zuiderzee Works, the purpose of the Delta Plan is largely defensive and not for land reclamation. It was a national program and required collaboration between the national government, the provincial authorities, the municipal authorities, and the water boards. The plan consisted of blocking the mouths of the estuary of the Oosterschelde, the Haringvliet and the Grevelingen. This reduced the length of the levees exposed to the sea by 700 km (430 mi).