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The minister says that many are disappointed when a new plan is presented: – Everything you do on the railway is incredibly expensive.
YOUNGSTORGET (Nettavisen): Today’s NOK 1 billion National Transportation Plan (NTP) came out with a bang nearly four years ago.
The government had decided to say yes to almost all wishes.
Even then, many people thought that he had bitten too much. Since then, costs have skyrocketed in several areas, and the word “bankrupt estate” is now used to refer to the plan.
– The section of the train passing through Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg has a cost of NOK 12 billion in the current plan, but when the fast clay is investigated, it turns out that the cost exceeds NOK 40 billion, says Transport Minister Knut Arild Hareide.
Hareide is aware that the cost has become too high on many projects and that too often the right decisions are not made about how and what to build.
– A great, great reform
So on Monday morning, the Minister of Transport and Communications invited a larger meeting to talk about how he had plans to finish all the way of long-term transport projects in Norway.
– If someone had told me ten years ago, when I chaired the transport committee at the Storting, that the budget for railways should triple and that for roads in 2020, I would have thought it would be an easy job to be Minister of Transport. But it turns out there is great potential to get more money back in this sector, Hareide said at a breakfast.
– He is ready to implement a great, great reform, he added.
Make it clear that many who have expectations of new projects will be disappointed when their new plan is presented.
I have listened to the group of experts
The Minister has had a group of experts establish the premises of how the State will think about the development of transport in the future.
Some of the changes in focus Hareide wants.
The expert group’s report received little attention when it was presented last summer, but their opinion was that something entirely new had to be thought of.
They thought that nowadays one is too concerned about what kinds of new projects should be built, instead of thinking about which ones challenges be resolved.
Also read: Experts warn: I don’t think Norway should invest more in trains
They also pointed out that some of the basic ideas one has had about the goals to be achieved are out of date. What exactly is the point of building an extremely expensive railway, when road transport in a short time will in any case be emission-free and partially autonomous long-distance transport will reduce the risk of accidents?
They were also very unhappy that they were investing in the wrong projects and gave the green light to what it was worth.
– The fact that there is such a big difference in socioeconomic calculations, and what one chooses to build when prioritizing, is a crossword puzzle. It should hardly be two, that’s true, says Ruter’s boss, Bernt Reitan Jenssen.
I should take some power away from politicians
According to Hareide, when the new National Transportation Plan (NTP) is presented in six months, there will be a whole new way of thinking about how things should be prioritized.
– Politicians must dare to loosen up a bit, to let the experts control a little more. We won’t create expectations that “exactly in 2032 it will be built right here,” but we will wait until we get the most of our money, says Hariede.
The key word is ‘portfolio management’, where the main goals will be for unions to solve transport corridors and challenges. Politicians should decide, to a much lesser extent, which projects are important.
– We will present specific projects for the first 6 years and transportation corridors for the next 6 years.
– Many of our truths in this sector are upside down. We have thought that the railroad is respectful with the climate, while the roads are the opposite. Now turn it over. I had never imagined that a group of experts would recommend that I set aside the goal of getting goods off the road, but now we are there.
Transport and Communications Minister Knut Arild Hareide talks about a new way of thinking about transport development in Norway and reports that many will be disappointed.
Photo: Magnus Blaker (Nettavisen)
– Everything you do on the railroad is incredibly expensive
When asked by Nettavisen, Hareide makes it clear that rail investment in recent years has been correct and that rail has some significant advantages in big cities, but that the time to invest in long-distance rail is over.
This means, among other things, that the Northern Norway line will remain a castle in the air, but probably also the completion of an ongoing intercity project.
– Everything you do on the railroad is incredibly expensive, says Hareide, and he believes the railroad must face competition from emission-free alternatives.
– SV politicians have the same challenges as me: One must reach the climate goals in 2030 and if he had used all money on the railroad, then I wouldn’t have reached the goals, because I don’t have time for that.
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