Hordfast, the dinosaur project we don't need

Image: Kurt talks to the transport minister Jon Georg Dale
and the municipal minister Monica Mæland.

Ministers Monica Mæland and Jon Georg Dale, parliamentary representatives and mayors visited and reviewed the ferry-free E39 in Hordaland on Monday 24/6-2019. The Norwegian Environmental Protection Association was present to promote some sense in the debate about this project.

Firstly, it is unnecessarily expensive and environmentally objectionable. This is a project worth over 34 billion. All this must be financed by society and through tolls. The toll share was initially stipulated at 18 billion, but the transport minister corrected this to 15 billion. About 600 million has been spent so far just on planning.

"-We don't need this dinosaur project here in Western Norway. We need the break this ferry trip gives us, not least because it is a welcome break for professional drivers who drive long distances."At the same time, we know that there is not a single large public construction project that has cost what was estimated. Exceedings are more the rule than the exception. There is great uncertainty about how much more expensive this will be, but what is certain is that it will all be significantly more expensive.

In addition to the financial costs, we have the environmental costs. From the construction phase, large quantities of plastic are released directly into the sea. In addition, there will be disturbingly large nature encroachments on all route choices where several rare nature types and landscapes of international value are sacrificed.

This is the largest natural intervention in Hordaland in modern times, which will destroy several rare nature types and landscapes of international value. The core area for this rainforest type in Norway and the world is in the Reksteren-Nese area. The area has a rare high concentration of boreonemoral rainforest (a rare mixture of coniferous and deciduous forest), and constitutes the core area for this type of rainforest in Norway and the world. Norway has an international responsibility to manage both it and coastal marshes, which are both threatened habitats.

This project must be shelved. Gas-powered ferries will be clearly the best environmental alternative for the future, and when the technology later becomes good enough, electric ferries could become a good and forward-looking solution for this stretch.

Case on NRK:
The project is reprehensible

Feature on Vestlandsrevyen 24.06.2019:
District news The Vestland review about E39