Norway’s lengthy and expensive project to build a tunnel for small- to medium-sized ships sailing along the country’s west coast has won a reprieve. The government’s decision to drop it from its state budget proposal ended up meeting opposition from a majority in Parliament.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) has announced that the bidding process for the ship tunnel, which would enable ships to avoid sailing around Norway’s stormy West Cape at Stad, will continue. That came after initial debate over the proposed state budget, in which it had been dropped because of its high costs, resulted in new orders from Parliament that overrode the government: “Carry on and complete the current negotiations with selected entrepreneurs regarding work on the Stad ship tunnel,” in order to get a final price for it, “and then work towards cost reduction measures.”

That forced the government’s ministry in charge of business, trade and fisheries (NFD) to revive the project it had viewed as too costly. The goal now is to come up with a new proposal for the ship tunnel in time for debate over the revised state budget for 2026, which takes place in May and June.

Bidders for the project include AF-gruppen, the French company Eiffage Genie Civil and Skanska, in cooperation with Vassbakk og Stol. They’ll now be under pressure to submit new and presumably lower offers for the tunnel by the end of November. That will also be followed by further “updated offers” in January and February that would result in “the smartest solutions, lower risk and cost cuts.”

NewsinEnglish.no staff