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116-796: The enormous scale of the works required the creation of a joint venture company comprising several large dredging contractors , known as the Maatschappij tot Uitvoering van Zuiderzeewerken . The American Society of Civil Engineers declared the works, together with the Delta Works in the South-West of the Netherlands, as among the Seven Wonders of the Modern World . The Low Countries have low flat topography, with half

232-592: A diesel powered station, near Den Oever and the Lely , an electrically powered one, near Medemblik . Different power systems were used in the stations as a safety mechanism. If one station lost power, the other one would still be able to keep the polder dry. The pumping mechanism itself was based on a variation of Archimedes' screw , as designed by A. Baldwin Wood . The stations, completed in February 1930, managed to drain

348-439: A 2.2 percent average ROA, while wholly owned and controlled affiliates in the U.S. only realized a 0.7 percent ROA." In European law , the term "joint venture" is an exclusive legal concept, better defined under the rules of company law . In France , the term "joint venture" is variously translated as "association d'entreprises", "entreprise conjointe", "coentreprise" or "entreprise commune". A JV can be brought about in

464-563: A 410 km (160 sq mi) polder, yet many different proposals were later put forth in an effort to combine the benefits of both the Markerwaard and Markermeer, all to no avail. Although cabinets had intended to proceed with the Markerwaard, it was decided to indefinitely postpone the project in September 1986. A proposed alternative was to use the lake as a water reservoir for hydropower combined with wind-power from windmills on

580-713: A JV aimed at defining standards or serving as an "industry utility" that provides a narrow set of services to industry participants. Some major joint ventures include United Launch Alliance , Vevo , Hulu , Virgin Media O2 , Penske Truck Leasing , and Owens-Corning . According to Gerard Baynham of Water Street Partners, there has been much negative press about joint ventures, but objective data indicate that they may actually outperform wholly owned and controlled affiliates . He writes, "A different narrative emerged from our recent analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) data, collected from more than 20,000 entities. According to

696-526: A company. By its formation, the JV becomes a new entity with the implications that: On the receipt of the Certificate of Incorporation, a company can commence its business. This is a legal area and is fraught with difficulty as the laws of countries differ, particularly on the enforceability of "heads of" or shareholder agreements. For some legal reasons, it may be called a Memorandum of Understanding . It

812-468: A couple of years this landscape of shallow pools, islets and swamps became a popular resting and foraging area for many species of waterfowl, to the extent that it rapidly turned into a nature reserve of national significance. Although accidental in origin, the Oostvaardersplassen as they are known became by the 1970s the definitive destination for this section of the polder. The centre of

928-406: A major testbed for ideas and techniques for the following projects. It is closest to the original concept of the new land being primarily used as agricultural land and it has retained a strong rural character. Four villages eventually were formed in the polder: Slootdorp (1931), Middenmeer (1933), Wieringerwerf (1936), and Kreileroord (1957). Local governance presented a new problem. The area

1044-779: A part of the province of Holland, and the new province of North Holland in 1840, where it still remains. In November 1918 the German crown prince Wilhelm received political asylum in the Netherlands. He lived in Wieringen from November 1918, returning to Germany in November 1923. On 31 July 1924 the Amsteldiep was closed by a short dam called the Amsteldiepdijk. In 1930 the Eastern Wieringermeerdijk

1160-496: A principal disadvantage is absence of an interested and influential Chinese party. As of the 3rd Quarter of 2004, WFOEs had replaced EJVs and CJVs as follows: (*)=Financial Vventures by EJVs/CJVs (**)=Approved JVs These enterprises are formed under the Sino-Foreign Investment Act. The capital is composed of value of stock in exchange for the value of the property given to the enterprise. The liability of

1276-517: A single south-eastern polder were changed to construct two separate polders with a joint hydrological infrastructure. They were divided by a dike in the middle, the Knardijk , which would keep one polder safe should the other be flooded. The two main drainage canals to traverse the dike could be closed by weirs in such a flooding event. The eastern polder was planned to be the first, and the encircling dike began to take form in 1951. It progressed until

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1392-524: A threatening food shortage during the other stresses of World War I added to widespread support for the project. Lely stressed the importance of extending the area of arable land, and estimated that 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of good land would be reclaimed from the clay soil, while the regions with a sand bottom would eventually become the IJsselmeer . On 14 June 1918, the Zuiderzee Act

1508-487: Is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership , shared returns and risks , and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to access a new market, particularly emerging market ; to gain scale efficiencies by combining assets and operations; to share risk for major investments or projects; or to access skills and capabilities. Most joint ventures are incorporated, although some, as in

1624-404: Is allowed to enter into contracts with appropriate government authorities to acquire land use rights, rent buildings, and receive utility services. In this it is more similar to a CJV than an EJV. WFOEs are expected by PRC to use the most modern technologies and to export at least 50% of their production, with all of the investment is to be wholly provided by the foreign investor and the enterprise

1740-604: Is described below. The EJV Law is between a Chinese partner and a foreign company. It is incorporated in both Chinese (official) and in English (with equal validity), with limited liability. Prior to China's entry into WTO – and thus the WFOEs – EJVs predominated. In the EJV mode, the partners share profits, losses, and risk in equal proportion to their respective contributions to the venture's registered capital. These escalate upwardly in

1856-470: Is done in parallel with other activities in forming a JV. Though dealt with briefly for a shareholders' agreement , some issues must be dealt with here as a preamble to the discussion that follows. There are also many issues which are not in the Articles when a company starts up or never ever present. Also, a JV may elect to stay as a JV alone in a "quasi partnership" to avoid any nonessential disclosure to

1972-547: Is named) was an ardent supporter, an engineer, and later government minister. A group called the "Zuider Zee Society" began a thorough investigation as to the best means of closing and draining the Zuider Zee in 1886, and in 1891 Lely introduced his plan, which formed the basis for the development of what were to become the Zuiderzee Works. It consisted of a large dam connecting the northern tip of North Holland with

2088-466: Is planned, although it will be accessible to tourists and birdwatchers . The creation process started in April 2016 with the first new island being inaugurated on 24 September 2016. The loss of the Markerwaard did not affect plans to create a new province out of the polders. The older Wieringermeer in the north, long since part of North Holland , would not become a part of it, but the municipalities of

2204-483: Is still today a fishing community and it served as a natural construction-island for both dikes as well as a base of operations for the later exploitation of the polder. Both ceased to be islands: Urk on 3 October 1939, when the dike reaching from Lemmer was closed and Schokland when the surrounding water was consequently drained. Both islands stand out in the new land, physically and figuratively. The community of Urk in particular has remained an entity somewhat distinct from

2320-549: Is used for vegetables; the next best for rye and other grain; and the worst land is forested. Each plot has a paved road in the front and a canal in the back to make it accessible by land and water. A terp in the center of the polder is built higher than the highest recorded flood level of the North Sea to protect people if the dike fails; the Wieringermeer terp is large enough to hold the population of Amsterdam. During

2436-470: Is what will happen if the firm is dissolved, if one of the partners dies, or if the firm is sold. Often, the most successful JVs are those with 50:50 partnership with each party having the same number of directors but rotating control over the firm, or rights to appoint the Chairperson and Vice-chair of the company. Sometimes a party may give a separate trusted person to vote in its place proxy vote of

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2552-515: Is within his total control. WFOEs are typically limited liability enterprises. Like with EJVs, but the liability of the directors, managers, advisers, and suppliers depends on the rules which govern the Departments or Ministries which control product liability, worker safety or environmental protection. An advantage the WFOE enjoys over its alternates is enhanced protection of its know-how but

2668-622: The Wortman (diesel powered) at Lelystad-Haven, the Lovink near Harderwijk and the Colijn (both electrically powered) along the northern dike beside the Ketelmeer. All three were built with extra capacity with the future southern polder in mind. A new element in the design of this polder was the intention to establish a larger city to serve as a regional centre for all the polders and perhaps

2784-611: The Buma near Lemmer, the Smeenge at Vollenhove, and finally the Vissering in Urk. The first two are electrically powered (though connected to different power-plants), while the latter one has diesel power. Like all pumping stations of the Zuiderzee Works, they are named for individuals who made significant contributions to the project. The period following World War II was spent restoring

2900-574: The German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II the invading forces at first did not interfere; their engineers inspected the project as a model for reclaiming the Frische Haff . In 1945 retreating Germans ordered the inundation of the Wieringermeer , but it was drained again afterwards and the damage repaired. The Wieringermeer, as the first of the envisioned five polders, served as

3016-531: The Markermeer . Construction of this dike, known later as the Houtribdijk or Markerwaarddijk , progressed slowly, lasting from 1963 to 1975, after which it also served as an important road connection between the north of North Holland and the eastern Netherlands. The Houtribdijk did not, however, result in the construction of the rest of the Markerwaard, as many had hoped. The debate on whether to build

3132-608: The Marsdiep (the channel between Wieringen and Texel and the mainland) is referred to as "fluvium Maresdeop" ( fluvium is Latin for "river" and Maresdeop is old Dutch for "morass deep"), and Wieringen and Texel may have met as opposite banks of this deep river. It appears that at that time Texel and Wieringen islands were much larger and spread across what is now the western end of the Waddenzee and perhaps also other areas which are now sea or in polders . A possessions list of

3248-512: The North Sea flood of 1953 struck the south-western Netherlands. Workers and machinery were transferred there for repair work (additional work here was part of the Delta Works ). Work on Eastern Flevoland resumed in 1954 and the dike was closed on 13 September 1956. The pumping stations started draining the polder that same day, completing the task in June 1957. Three pumping stations were built:

3364-486: The World Trade Organization (WTO) around 2001 has had profound effects on foreign investment. Not being a JV, they are considered here only in comparison or contrast. To implement WTO commitments, China publishes from time to time updated versions of its "Catalogs Investments" (affecting ventures) prohibited, restricted. The WFOE is a Chinese legal person and has to obey all Chinese laws. As such, it

3480-464: The oil and gas industry , are "unincorporated" joint ventures that mimic a corporate entity. With individuals, when two or more persons come together to form a temporary partnership for the purpose of carrying out a particular project, such partnership can also be called a joint venture where the parties are " co-venturers ". The venture can be a business JV (for example, Dow Corning), a project/asset JV intended to pursue one specific project only, or

3596-450: The "constitution" of a company in these countries. The articles of association regulate the interaction between shareholders and the directors of a company and can be a lengthy document of up to 700,000 or so pages. It deals with the powers relegated by the stockholders to the directors and those withheld by them, requiring the passing of ordinary resolutions , special resolutions and the holding of Extraordinary General Meetings to bring

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3712-464: The "mainland". It is a separate municipality from the rest of the polder, which was organized as the municipality of Noordoostpolder in 1962. The town of Kuinre was cut off from the open water, losing businesses and status. At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the town of Emmeloord (1943). Planned to be the first and the only major town of

3828-622: The 18 km (11 mi) dike from Den Oever on Wieringen and the new construction-island of Oude Zeug and progressed satisfactorily. The Wieringermeer was closed off from the Zuiderzee in July 1929. The next step was draining all the water from the future polder. Drainage of a polder is performed by a pumping station or mill ( gemaal in Dutch). Two were built for the Wieringermeer, the Leemans ,

3944-459: The DOC data, foreign joint ventures of U.S. companies realized a 5.5 percent average return on assets (ROA), while those companies' wholly owned and controlled affiliates (the vast majority of which are wholly owned) realized a slightly lower 5.2 percent ROA. The same story holds true for investments by foreign companies in the U.S., but the difference is more pronounced. U.S.-based joint ventures realized

4060-640: The Founder at board meetings. Recently, in a major case the Indian Supreme Court has held that Memorandums of Understanding (whose details are not in the articles of association) are "unconstitutional" giving more transparency to undertakings. A JV is not a permanent structure. It can be dissolved when: Joint ventures are risky forms of business partnerships . Literature in business and management has paid attention to different factors of conflict and opportunism in joint ventures, in particular

4176-464: The JV's life, giving the option to the foreign investor, by holding higher equity, obtains a faster rate of return with the concurrent wish of the Chinese partner of a later larger role of maintaining long-term control. The parties in any of the ventures, EJV, CJV or WFOE prepare a feasibility study outlined above. It is a non-binding document – the parties are still free to choose not to proceed with

4292-508: The Markerwaard continued for years. The need for new agricultural land had mostly disappeared by this time and extra space for housing was unnecessary in this region. The existing ecological and recreational value of the Markermeer was considered by many to be equal or superior to any potential such value the Markerwaard would offer. Doubts began to surface about the cost-effectiveness of the polder. The original post-war designs had called for

4408-404: The Noordoostpolder had shown that groundwater from the higher old mainland would flow to the lower new land, causing subsidence and dehydration in the old land. It was decided to use geohydrology to detach the new polders from the mainland. A string of peripheral lakes have been left between the two, requiring a much longer dike of 90 km (56 mi) to encircle the polder. The plans for

4524-518: The Saale Ice Age . The name Wieringen probably comes from Old Frisian wîr meaning "height". It was previously suggested incorrectly that the name came from "wier" ( seaweed in Dutch). The first known written references to Wieringen are as "Wiron" or "pagus Wirense" in Latin lists of property owned by the monastery at Fulda , dated late 8th century or early 9th century AD. In this list,

4640-506: The St. Martin's church in Utrecht , dated 948, lists a church domain with 12 farms at Alvitlo (now De Elft ), and 72 [probably mostly small] farms at Strude (now Stroe ). Both these places are in Wieringen. The land in these lists comprise an area larger than the modern (up to 1924) island of Wieringen. Viking attacks and occupation of Frisian territory took place in the 9th century. This

4756-536: The US) covering know-how and trademarks and supply-of-equipment agreements. The minimum equity is prescribed for investment truncated, where the foreign equity and debt levels are: There are also intermediary levels. The foreign investment in the total project must be at least 25%. No minimum investment is set for the Chinese partner. The timing of investments must be mentioned in the Agreement and failure to invest in

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4872-556: The Wieringermeerpolder and catching up with work on the Noordoostpolder. Soon attention turned towards the next project: Eastern Flevoland (Oostelijk Flevoland), which at 540 km was the largest of the new polders. In 1950 work commenced on several construction-islands in the middle of the IJsselmeer, the largest of which would be Lelystad-Haven, which initially housed a community of dike-builders. The experience of

4988-462: The Works. This new land led to an identity change for towns including Lemmer , Vollenhove , Blokzijl due to losing their direct access to the sea and Kuinre was completely cut off from open water. The former islands of Urk and Schokland , and Wieringen got connected to the mainland. The other major project started in 1927 was the construction of the 200 km (77 sq mi) polder in

5104-423: The Zuiderzee Works and gained support. The government started developing official plans to enclose the Zuiderzee. On 13 and 14 January 1916 the dikes at several places along the Zuiderzee broke under the stress of a winter storm, and the land behind them flooded, as had often happened in previous centuries. This flooding provided the decisive impetus to implement the existing plans to tame the Zuiderzee. In addition,

5220-477: The Zuiderzee who would lose their livelihood, and from others in coastal areas along the more northerly Wadden Sea . They feared higher water levels as a result of the closure. Other critics doubted whether the project was feasible financially. Queen Wilhelmina 's speech from the throne in 1913, urged reclamation of the Zuiderzee, and the requisite bill was introduced. When Lely became Minister of Transport and Public Works that year, he used his position to promote

5336-506: The actual development and an appointed committee responsible for public governance. As the polder became more populated, the demand for representation increased until finally on 1 July 1941, the municipality of Wieringermeer was established. On 17 April 1945, in the closing days of World War II , the Wehrmacht breached the Wieringermeer dike with explosives to flood the polder and prevent allied advance. No casualties were incurred, but

5452-407: The bottom of the Zuiderzee. Work started at four points: on both sides of the mainland and on two purpose-made construction-islands ( Kornwerderzand and Breezanddijk ) along the line of the future dam. From these points, the dam was expanded as ships deposited till into the open sea in two parallel lines. Sand was poured between these two lines; as the fill emerged above the surface of the water, it

5568-481: The capital of a potential new province . This city, located in the centre of the reclaimed lands, was developed as Lelystad (1966), named after the man who had played a crucial role in the design and realisation of the Zuiderzee Works. Other more conventional settlements had already developed by then; Dronten, the local major town, was founded in 1962, followed in 1963 by two smaller satellite villages, Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen. These last three were incorporated into

5684-461: The cases, the status of the formed enterprise is that of a legal Chinese person which can hire labor directly as, for example, a Chinese national contactor. The minimum of the capital is registered at various levels of investment. Other differences from the EJV are to be noted: Convenience and flexibility are the characteristics of this type of investment. It is therefore easier to find co-operative partners and to reach an agreement. With changes in

5800-598: The construction of the main dam and another 20 years for the completion of the four inner enclosures. The department decided against building the main dam first, proceeding to construct a smaller dam, the Amsteldiepdijk , across the Amsteldiep. This was the first step in rejoining the island of Wieringen to the North Holland mainland. The dike, with a length of 2.5 km (1.6 mi), was built between 1920 and 1924. As with dike building, polder construction

5916-496: The dam but proved not to be so. On 28 May 1932, two years earlier than forecast, the Zuiderzee was closed when the last tidal trench of the Vlieter was filled with a bucket of till. The IJsselmeer was born, though the lake still contained salt water at the time. The dam was not finished. It still needed to be brought up to its full height, and a road linking Friesland and North Holland remained to be built. In addition to completing

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6032-481: The dam's construction, relieving unemployment during the Great Depression . The total cost of the dam was about € 700 million (2004 equivalent). The first island was completed in late 2020. After damming off the sea, the next step involved creating new land, known as polders. This was achieved by damming off portions of the IJsselmeer, and then pumping all the water out. The first polder, Wieringermeer ,

6148-581: The dam, work needed was the construction of shipping locks and discharge sluices at the ends of the dam. The complex at Den Oever includes the Stevin lock and three series of five sluices for discharging the IJsselmeer into the Wadden Sea. The other complex at Kornwerderzand is composed of the Lorentz locks and two series of five sluices, making a total of 25 discharge sluices. Periodically discharging

6264-437: The danger a large IJsselmeer still presented. A further planned element of the Markerwaard was subsequently executed: a 28 km dike between Lelystad and Enkhuizen , including two complexes of locks and discharge sluices at either end, was to split the IJsselmeer in two, with the largest portion (1,250 km (480 sq mi)) continuing as the IJsselmeer and the smaller lake (700 km (270 sq mi)) being named

6380-622: The death of Mao Zedong in 1976, initiatives in foreign trade began to be applied, and law applicable to foreign direct investment was made clear in 1979, while the first Sino-foreign equity venture took place in 2001. The corpus of the law has improved since then. Companies with foreign partners can carry out manufacturing and sales operations in China and can sell through their own sales network. Foreign-Sino companies have export rights which are not available to wholly Chinese companies, as China desires to import foreign technology by encouraging JVs and

6496-477: The dikes, eliminating the unpredictability of the latter – when there is an overcapacity of wind, use that to fill the lake and when there is not enough, use the high water level for hydro power. In 2012, plans emerged to create the Marker Wadden , a group of islands designed to establish nature reserves in the north of the Markermeer. Contrary to the Markerwaard, no permanent human occupation

6612-503: The directors' decision to bear. A Certificate of Incorporation or the Articles of Incorporation is a document required to form a corporation in the U.S. (in actuality, the state where it is incorporated) and in countries following the practice. In the US, the "constitution" is a single document. The Articles of Incorporation is again a regulation of the directors by the stock-holders in

6728-399: The earlier experience, the now placid waters of the IJsselmeer, and the mechanisation of the construction process. Machines, sometimes made specifically for the Zuiderzee Works, were increasingly used for this and the final polders. Land usage was much the same as in the Wieringermeer, again focusing on farming. Less fertile areas were designated to be planted as forest land. Land in the polders

6844-483: The effects drainage would have on the soil of the Zuiderzee and how best to configure the new polders. Building the encircling dike for the Wieringermeer was harder than it was for the later polders, because the Wieringermeer dikes were built before the completion of the Afsluitdijk. That meant the tidal currents of the Zuiderzee were still present. As a consequence, they were somewhat higher. Construction started on

6960-571: The first infrastructure was put in place, the reed was burnt and replaced by rapeseed , turning the newborn polder into a yellow sea of flowers in spring. These crops were succeeded by various grains. In the Wieringermeer the first was rye , but the later polders plant wheat, then barley , and finally oats. This process took years, but once finished allowed planting other crops. At the same time, other infrastructures such as roads and housing were built. The Wieringermeer and later polders were divided into plots of about 50 acres (20 ha). The best land

7076-471: The following major ways: In the UK , India , and in many common law countries, a joint-venture (or else a company formed by a group of individuals) must file its memorandum of association with the appropriate authority. This is a statutory document which informs the public of its existence. It may be viewed by the public at the office in which it is filed. Together with the articles of association , it forms

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7192-519: The government body responsible for overseeing the construction and initial management, was set up in May 1919. In the initial stages of the work heavy clay was dredged out of the open sea and deposited along the track to be followed by the dam. The cost of the undertaking was calculated in 1914, in UK currency, at about £19,000,000 but it soon seemed likely to be very much more. At the time, ten years were allowed for

7308-403: The government change its priorities. Instead of granting the new land only to farmers selected for their skill, the government granted land to a large number of farmers from the flooded province of Zeeland . The polder contains two former islands: the glacial moraine hill of Urk , and the elongated strip of peat land known as Schokland , largely abandoned in the 19th century. Urk was then and

7424-423: The government or the public. Some of the issues in a shareholders' agreement are: There are many features which have to be incorporated into the shareholders' agreement which is quite private to the parties as they start off. Normally, it requires noтуОЧ submission to any authority. The other basic document which must be articulated is the Articles, which is a published document and known to members. This repeats

7540-470: The heavily urbanised centre of the Netherlands and in particular Amsterdam , the planners devised a design that would include a large new urban area, to be called Almere , in order to relieve the housing shortage and increasing overcrowding on the old land. Almere was to be divided into 3 major settlements, initially; the first, Almere-Haven (1976), situated along the Gooimeer (one of the peripheral lakes),

7656-403: The high water and a subsequent storm destroyed most of the infrastructure built in the previous decade as well as all crops. Reconstruction followed quickly, and by the end of 1945 the polder was declared drained again. The original 1891 plan called for the largest, southeastern polder to be built after the Wieringermeer, but it was decided in 1932 to give precedence to the northeastern one, which

7772-412: The hydrological union of the two Flevolands; once the polder was finished it would simply join the previous three in maintaining the water-level of both polders. Before it could do that however the newest gemaal had to first drain the 430 km (170 sq mi) polder of its water all by itself, completing its job in May 1968. Due to the geographically favourable location of the southern polder to

7888-569: The importance of Wieringen decreased. In 1798 when the Batavian Republic formed, the province of Holland and West Friesland was divided, and Wieringen fell under the département of Texel (from the Vlie to the Rhine ). In 1807 under Napoleon , the province was subdivided into two separate provinces; Amstelland and Maasland, but this organization ended in 1814. In 1815 Wieringen became

8004-567: The indicated time, draws a penalty. Co-operative Joint Ventures (CJVs) are permitted under the Sino-Foreign Co-operative Joint Ventures. Co-operative enterprises are also called Contractual Operative Enterprises. The CJVs may have a limited structure or unlimited – therefore, there are two versions. The limited-liability version is similar to the EJVs in status of permissions – the foreign investor provides

8120-602: The influence of parent control structure, ownership change, and volatile environment. Government procurement regulations, such as the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in the United States, may specify how joint ventures are to be approached as suppliers or confirm that a joint venture or other form of contractor partnering is seen as a "desirable" arrangement for supplying to government. The FAR states that The Government will recognize

8236-405: The integrity and validity of contractor team arrangements [including joint ventures], provided the arrangements are identified and company relationships are fully disclosed in an offer or, for arrangements entered into after submission of an offer, before the arrangement becomes effective. The Government will not normally require or encourage the dissolution of contractor team arrangements. Under

8352-478: The lake is necessary since it is continually fed by rivers and streams (most notably the IJssel River, for which the lake is named) and polders draining excess water into the IJsselmeer. The Afsluitdijk was opened 25 September 1933, with a monument marking the spot where the dam was finished. It used 23 million m of sand and 13.5 million m of till. An average of 4,000 to 5,000 workers were employed in

8468-508: The land area below or less than 1 m (3 ft 3 in) above sea level , and have for centuries been subject to periodic flooding by the sea. The seventeenth century saw early proposals to tame and enclose the Zuiderzee , but the ambitious ideas were impractical given the technology then available. From 1200 to 1900 AD the Dutch reclaimed 940,000 acres (380,000 ha) of land from

8584-719: The latest technologies. Under Chinese law, foreign enterprises are divided into several basic categories. Of these, five will be described or mentioned here: three relate to industry and services and two as vehicles for foreign investment. Those five categories of Chinese foreign enterprises are: the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures (EJVs), Sino-Foreign Co-operative Joint Ventures (CJVs), Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises (WFOE), although they do not strictly belong to Joint Ventures, plus foreign investment companies limited by shares (FICLBS), and Investment Companies through Foreign Investors (ICFI). Each category

8700-498: The latter is the fastest growing city in the Netherlands (in part because of its proximity to Amsterdam ). Another large polder was originally planned in the Markermeer . This project was extensively debated until plans were abandoned in the early 2000s, as environmental issues were viewed differently than in the 1920s. A new province, Flevoland , was created out of the Noordoostpolder and the Flevolands in 1986, thereby completing

8816-480: The law, it becomes possible to merge with a Chinese company for a quick start. A foreign investor does not need to set up a new corporation in China. Instead, the investor uses the Chinese partner's business license, under a contractual arrangement. However, under the CJV, the land stays in the possession of the Chinese partner. There is another advantage: the percentage of the CJV owned by each partner can change throughout

8932-402: The majority of funds and technology and the Chinese party provides land, buildings, equipment, etc. However, there are no minimum limits on the foreign partner which allows him to be a minority shareholder. The other format of the CJV is similar to a partnership where the parties jointly incur unlimited liability for the debts of the enterprise with no separate legal person being created. In both

9048-486: The mid-19th century, van Diggelen, Kloppenburg, and Faddegon proposed that the Zuiderzee also be drained. Test drilling by the Zuiderzeevereeniging found that about three quarters of the Zuiderzee would be useful land. Plans were developed during the second half of the nineteenth century to protect areas from the force of the open sea and creating new agricultural land. Cornelis Lely (after whom Lelystad

9164-459: The municipality existed before the town itself, with only farms in the surrounding land to be governed until the town started to grow. Markerwaard was a planned fifth polder that has never been completed. It was intended to build a south-western polder, to be called the Markerwaard , at several times during the project, but other polders took precedence. Parts of it have been built; in 1941 it

9280-411: The new municipality of Dronten on 1 January 1972. Lelystad was large enough to be organized as a separate municipality on 1 January 1980. Though agriculture was initially the main purpose of the polder, needs of the post-war period changed the design goals of the new polders. Changing agricultural needs and increased motorised mobility meant many farming villages were unnecessary and the number of towns

9396-527: The next polder. Southern Flevoland (Zuidelijk Flevoland) was the fourth polder of the Zuiderzee Works, built adjacent to its larger sibling, Eastern Flevoland. Since its northeastern dike, the aforementioned Knardijk, already existed, only 70 km (43 mi) of the dike remained to be built. Starting in early 1959, this was finished in October 1967. Only one pumping station ('gemaal'), the diesel powered De Blocq van Kuffeler , needed to be built because of

9512-509: The northwest, the first and the smallest of the five projected polders. It replaced the Wieringermeer , the body of water south of Wieringen, and also the name of the new polder. It was the only polder reclaimed from the Zuiderzee itself (the others were reclaimed after the Afsluitdijk was finished), but it wasn't entirely the first. A small test polder of some 0.4 km was constructed in 1926—1927 near Andijk in North Holland to research

9628-404: The other three and the islands of the Noordoostpolder would together form the 12th province of the Netherlands, called Flevoland . The need for a new province was not immediately clear; Urk and the Noordoostpolder had been part of Overijssel up to that point and Dronten fell under Gelderland . After the new municipalities of Southern Flevoland were established in 1984, belonging to no province as

9744-419: The polder after six months of continuous pumping. "Drained" in this context does not mean the land was wholly dry; extensive pools of shallow water still littered the muddy landscape. To make the soil usable it had to be further drained by a network of drainage canals. Small ditches were dug leading to larger watercourses, which in turn transported their water to the main drainage canals. These canals, dredged when

9860-428: The polder most closely resembles the pre-war polders in that it is almost exclusively agricultural. In contrast, the south-eastern part is dominated by extensive forests. It is also home to the only other settlement of the polder, Zeewolde (1984), again a more conventional town acting as the local centre. Zeewolde became a municipality at the same time as Almere, on 1 January 1984, which in the case of Zeewolde meant that

9976-399: The polder was still filled with water, conducted surplus water to the pumping stations. The resulting dehydration caused the former seabed to sink by over a metre in some places. Once the ground had settled, the smaller ditches were replaced with underground drainage tubes, which would be used for the normal drainage of the polder. With the hydrological infrastructure in place, the virgin land

10092-522: The polder, it serves as the local governmental and services center. Ten smaller villages, conceived more as agricultural communities, were planned in a wide circle around Emmeloord, at a distance chosen to be easily covered by bicycle . The first settlements were Ens , Marknesse and Kraggenburg (1949), followed by Luttelgeest (1950), Bant (1951), then Creil and Rutten (1953), and finally Espel , Tollebeek , and Nagele (1956). From Emmeloord three canals carry their water to three pumping stations,

10208-474: The project. The feasibility study must cover the fundamental technical and commercial aspects of the project, before the parties can proceed to formalize the necessary legal documentation. The study should contain details referred to earlier under Feasibility Study (submissions by the Chinese partner). There is basic law of the PRC concerning enterprises with sole foreign investment controls, WFOEs. China's entry into

10324-549: The rules applicable to public procurement in the European Union , public bodies may insist that suppliers intending to provide goods and services through a joint partnership accept joint liability for the execution of the contract. According to a 2003 report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development , China was the recipient of US$ 53.5 billion in direct foreign investment, making it

10440-440: The same proportion as the increase in registered capital. The JV contract accompanied by the articles of association for the EJV are the two most fundamental legal documents of the project. The Articles mirror many of the provisions of the JV contract. In case of conflict the JV document has precedence. These documents are prepared at the same time as the feasibility report. There are also the ancillary documents (termed "offsets" in

10556-506: The sea and 345,000 acres (140,000 ha) by draining lakes, a total of 1,285,000 acres (520,000 ha), but lost 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha) of land to the Zuiderzee. Hendrik Stevin in 1667 was the first to publish a study ("How the Fury of the North Sea may be stopped and Holland may be protected against it") proposing to drain the Zuiderzee. After the IJ and Haarlemmermeer were drained in

10672-401: The second and largest, Almere-Stad ( Almere City ) (1980), which was to fulfil the role of city centre, and the third, Almere-Buiten (1984), to the northeast towards Lelystad. The area between Lelystad and Almere was designated for heavy industries, but since enough space was still available on the old land for those industries this part of the polder was left alone for the mean time. After only

10788-435: The shareholders agreement as to the number of directors each founder can appoint to the board of directors; whether the board controls or the founders; the taking of decisions by simple majority (50%+1) of those present or a 51% or 75% majority with all directors present (their alternates/ proxy ); the deployment of funds of the firm; extent of debt; the proportion of profit that can be declared as dividends; etc. Also significant

10904-464: The shareholders, including debt, is equal to the number of shares purchased by each partner. Wieringen Wieringen ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋiːrɪŋə(n)] ) is in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands . Now a part of the municipality of Hollands Kroon , before 2012 it was a separate municipality, its name appearing in 8th and 9th century records. By 1200 it

11020-470: The village of Zurich in Friesland. It was to be 32 km long and 90 meters wide, rising to 7.25 meters above sea-level, with an incline of 25% on each side. Experience showed that glacial till , rather than just sand or clay, was the best primary material for a structure like the Afsluitdijk. An added benefit was that it was easily available; it could be retrieved in large quantities by dredging it from

11136-423: The western coast of Friesland and the creation of initially four polders in the northwest, the northeast, southeast (later split in two), and southwest of what would be renamed the IJsselmeer ( IJssel -lake). Two major lanes of open water were defined for shipping and drainage. The initial body of water affected by the project was 3,500 square kilometres (1,350 sq mi). Opposition came from fishermen along

11252-426: The world's largest recipient of direct foreign investment for the first time, to exceed the US. Also, it approved the establishment of nearly 500,000 foreign-investment enterprises. The US had 45,000 projects by 2004 with an in-place investment of over 48 billion. Until recently, no guidelines existed on how foreign investment was to be handled due to the restrictive nature of China toward foreign investors. Following

11368-496: Was an island, also named Wieringen, separated from the mainland during one of the severe storm floods in the late Middle Ages that changed the coastline. By draining, dikes and landfill from 1924 to 1932, the island was rejoined to the mainland. In 2003 the provincial and local governments announced a project to restore Wieringen as an island by creating a recreational lake to be called the Wieringerrandmeer . The project

11484-428: Was cancelled in 2010 for financial reasons. The former municipality of Wieringen consisted of the following villages and hamlets: Dam , De Elft , De Haukes , De Hoelm , Den Oever , Hippolytushoef , Hollebalg , Noordburen , Oosterklief , Oosterland , Smerp , Stroe , Vatrop , Westerklief and Westerland . The landscape of Wieringen is not all flat: it is characterised by boulder clay mounds, formed during

11600-476: Was closed, running south of the now former island to the North Holland mainland. When construction started in 1959 on a new dike it had not yet been decided whether this would be the northern dike of Southern Flevoland or the southern dike of the Markerwaard, but the choice eventually fell to the former and another chance for the Markerwaard had passed. A minor flood near Amsterdam in 1960 had demonstrated

11716-511: Was completed in the Zuiderzee, and with it the adjacent polder the Wieringermeer . The closing of the Zuiderzee was completed in 1932 by the Afsluitdijk , a large dike which connects Wieringen with Friesland, making it part of the mainland again. This dike starts at Den Oever . The former municipal council of Wieringen consisted of 13 seats, which at the final election in 2010 divided as follows: Elections were held in November 2011 for

11832-559: Was confirmed in 1996 when a hoard containing 1.7 kilograms of silver coins, ingots and jewelry was found in a pasture at the hamlet of Westerklief. It was dated to the 9th century and is attributed to Vikings. It is now in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. Smaller hoards from the same period were later found in the same area. The All Saints' Flood (1170) created the islands of Wieringen and Texel from North Holland . The area

11948-486: Was covered by another layer of till. The nascent dam was strengthened with basalt rocks and mats of willow switch at its base. The dam was finished by raising it with sand and finally clay for the upper surface of the dam, which was planted with grass. Construction progressed better than expected. At three points along the line of the dam were underwater gullies, where the tidal current was much stronger than elsewhere. These had been considered major obstacles to completing

12064-544: Was dammed in 1929 and fully drained in 1930. The third, the Noordoostpolder , was not fully drained until 1942. It was an area much used by the Dutch Underground resistance during World War II , as the fresh polder offered numerous hiding places. After the war, work was started on draining the Flevolands, a massive project totalling almost 1000 km. This area is now home to Lelystad and Almere ;

12180-431: Was decided to begin work on the first section of dike, but the German occupiers stopped construction that same year. This dike originated on Marken , the last of the IJsselmeer islands, and went north for some 2 km (1.2 mi) where it ends abruptly today. After World War II , the eastern polder was chosen as the next project, but Marken was not wholly ignored; on 17 October 1957, a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long dike

12296-425: Was developed to prepare for its later cultivation. The first plant to establish itself, though more so in the later polders than in the Wieringermeer, was reed , sown from the air by plane onto the muddy flats while the polder was still being drained. This sturdy plant helped evaporate the water and bring air into the soil, thereby solidifying its structure and further preventing the emergence of unwanted weeds. After

12412-466: Was disrupted during World War II during the 1940 German conquest of the Netherlands. The encircling dikes were both closed in December 1940, and the pumping stations started draining in early 1941. The Noordoostpolder was considered to be sufficiently drained in September 1942, and the developmental process was started for the 480 km of new land. The task of building the Noordoostpolder was eased by

12528-400: Was divided among the mainland municipalities according to the boundaries used when it was water-covered. This configuration was not always practical on the ground and unnecessarily split responsibilities among several bodies. The first solution was a form of government called an openbaar lichaam or "public body", a complicated arrangement which incorporated both the government body in charge of

12644-429: Was eventually reduced to two. Work on the village of Larsen was just about to start when it was cancelled. The amount of agricultural land did not increase; it diminished as a result of the building of Lelystad (a city envisioned to eventually house at least 100,000 inhabitants.) By 2005 it had 70,000 residents. In addition, more area was assigned for development as forests and nature reserves, a trend that would continue in

12760-587: Was inhabited and controlled by Frisians , until the Dutch count Floris III made the Wieringers subject in 1184. After this the area became unsettled, with Floris V imposing his rule in 1284, and in 1299 it was included in the district of Westfriesland within the County of Holland . In 1432 all the island of Wieringen was officially designated as one township and received city rights . But as more of Holland and Westfriesland became habitable and were developed,

12876-538: Was passed. The goals of the Act were threefold: Unlike earlier proposals the act intended to preserve part of the Zuiderzee and create large islands, as Lely warned that rerouting the rivers directly to the North Sea might cause inland flooding if storms raised the sea's level. He also wanted to preserve the Zee's fisheries, and for the new land to be accessible by water. The Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken (Zuiderzee Works Department),

12992-483: Was smaller and therefore considered easier. This would be the Noordoostpolder ( Northeast-polder ). Due to initial financial difficulties, construction did not begin until 1936. Two dikes, totaling 55 km in length, steadily grew in the IJsselmeer, one from Lemmer in Friesland to the island of Urk , the other from Vollenhove in Overijssel to Urk. Construction of these dikes and the necessary pumping stations

13108-452: Was state-owned during the entire developmental process. Several years after this was completed, the various plots were distributed among private parties, with priority given to the early pioneers who had been in the polder since the start. Later, farmers from all over the Netherlands became eligible for the remainder. Candidates were put through a selection process before receiving their own pieces of new land. The North Sea flood of 1953 made

13224-495: Was tested on a small scale at the experimental polder at Andijk . A new study, commissioned after doubts arose over the financial feasibility of the project, recommended that work should continue and be accelerated. The Zuiderzee Works Department initiated the next two major projects at the same time, in 1927. The most important of these was the main dam, the Afsluitdijk (enclosure dam), running from Den Oever on Wieringen to

13340-402: Was the case with Lelystad, the provincial issue required renewed attention. With only six municipalities and without the Markerwaard, the area was considered by opponents to be insufficiently populous and developed for an entire province, but the polder municipalities were unanimous in their desire: on 1 January 1986, the province of Flevoland was inaugurated. With a population of 356,400 (2004) it

13456-449: Was the least populous province, but the province of Zeeland had only 378,300 and Flevoland has a higher population density than four other provinces. By 2015, Flevoland had surpassed Zeeland in population (403,380, compared to 380,620) and had a density of 280 persons per square kilometre. 52°49′16″N 5°16′08″E  /  52.821°N 5.269°E  / 52.821; 5.269 Joint venture A joint venture ( JV )

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