Royal Haskoning had already carried out the feasibility study for the storm surge barrier at an earlier stage. The technical implementation of this extensive project will include such aspects as concrete work, steel work, hydraulic engineering, shipping, control engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering.

The project will also entail monitoring the environmental effects of the construction of the storm surge barrier. The sluices and locks that will form part of the storm surge barrier will be operational by the end of 2008.

It will then take at least a further year to round off the project.

Royal Haskoning will be using staff from their offices in the Netherlands, the UK and the Russian Federation for this project. The project will be carried out in cooperation with Geningconsult in Moscow.

A start was made on the construction of a storm surge barrier to prevent flooding back in the early 1990s, but the project was stopped because of its supposed negative effects on water quality. By the time it had been demonstrated that the environmental impact of the sea dike was neutral, the financial resources to continue the construction were no longer available.

Financial support from the European Development Bank is among the factors that are making the project possible again now. The design of the storm surge barrier that will be constructed will be modified in line with modern views.

The feasibility study on the new storm surge barrier, carried out earlier by Royal Haskoning, dealt with technical, commercial and environmental factors. The state of the partially constructed dam was investigated and Royal Haskoning generated ideas for modifying and modernising the old dike.