Rijkswaterstaat has completed the €764 million (US$858 million) reinforcement and modernisation of the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands with the Levvel consortium, including Invesis, Van Oord, BAM and Rebel, featuring a new pumping station and discharge sluices at Den Oever.

The project concerns the large-scale reinforcement and modernisation of the Afsluitdijk, a 32-km-long flood-defence structure in the Netherlands that has protected the country from flooding for more than 90 years. The programme was undertaken to strengthen the dike and improve its ability to manage water levels as sea levels rise and climate conditions change. The works were carried out over approximately eight years while the Afsluitdijk continued to serve as a flood defence and its road and shipping connections remained operational. 

A major element of the project was the construction of a new pumping station and discharge sluices at Den Oever. The pumping station is equipped with six pumps with a combined capacity of 275 cubic metres per second. Under normal conditions, water from the IJsselmeer can continue to flow naturally into the Wadden Sea through the sluices. However, rising sea levels are reducing the periods when gravity discharge is possible. The new pumps therefore provide additional capacity to remove excess water when natural discharge cannot take place. 

Together, the new pumping station and discharge sluices increase the Afsluitdijk's capacity to discharge water into the Wadden Sea by 45%. This is intended to improve the management of IJsselmeer water levels and strengthen the Netherlands' resilience to future flooding risks. The wider programme also included strengthening and raising the Afsluitdijk and installing new storm-surge barriers at Den Oever and Kornwerderzand. The new infrastructure was officially inaugurated on 1 October 2026 by Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Vincent Karremans at Den Oever. Representatives of Rijkswaterstaat, Invesis, the Levvel consortium and other project partners attended the ceremony. The commissioning of the pumping station and discharge sluices marked the completion of the major reinforcement and modernisation works.