In a letter to the new environmental protection minister, Sveinung Rotevatn, the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association (NMF) demands that the central environmental authorities cut through and ensure that the floating dock at Ågotnes on Sotra west of Bergen is raised.
It does not look good in 2020 to allow 12,000 tonnes of floating docks to be left behind with the littering and pollution hazards this entails. Furthermore, it sends very bad signals to society at large that it is okay to leave this dock alone. NMF believes that the dock can be raised for a cost of around 1/3 of what was the sum for the frigate KNM Helge Ingstad.
Investigators tried a Spanish one
The consulting company NIVA, which has carried out a superficial environmental assessment, also pointed out that the cost of raising the dock would amount to the same figure as for the Frigate. This without explaining how they had arrived at this. NMF believes that it is completely wrong to compare a hypermodern warship and the priorities that are made here with a dock from 1901 in terms of methods and focus in the rescue. Furthermore, the frigate became extremely expensive to salvage when the wrong people ordered expensive barges which remained unused for months. Crane barges with a daily price of NOK 2-3 million normally in the market.
On the basis of calculations made with some external advice, NMF has concluded that the costs of removing the dock could amount to 1/3 of Ingstad.
This is a cost CCB must be able to bear and it is a cost the authorities must be able to impose, also from a cost/benefit perspective.
See the letter to Sveinung Rotevatn here (PDF).
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