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Of: TT
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Photo: Jessica Gow / TT
In January 2018, Botkyrka Municipal Board Chairman Ebba Östlin (S) and Development Aid Minister Isabella Lövin (MP) announced that the Sida development assistance authority would be moved to Botkyrka Municipality in the Stockholm county.
Sida did not move to Botkyrka. Instead, the aid agency ends in Rissne, north of Stockholm. At Botkyrka, dissatisfaction is great.
– It has been obvious from the beginning that Sida has done everything possible not to move to Botkyrka, says the chairman of the municipal council, Ebba Östlin (S).
In January 2018, the government proudly announced, led by Isabella Lövin (MP), that the Sida development agency with its 500 employees would be relocating from Gärdet in Stockholm to the municipality of Botkyrka. In this way, the state would reinforce its presence outside the center of Stockholm.
Just over two and a half years later, it is clear that Sida will move to Rissne in Sundbyberg; according to Sida, there were no suitable premises in Botkyrka. The president of the municipal council, Ebba Östlin (S), has a different image.
– My image is that Sida never felt comfortable moving to Botkyrka. I have encountered an enormous amount of prejudice on the part of Sida employees in the suburbs.
“One step 22”
According to Ebba Östlin, it was clear from the beginning that there were no empty premises for Sida in the municipality. Instead, the starting point was, as with the police house in Rinkeby, to build a new house.
– But Sida has always said they don’t want to do that. Since this is the basic premise, it has felt like a 22 step, says Ebba Östlin.
According to the Botkyrka politician, Sida began early in the process to look for alternatives in other municipalities and focused on Botkyrka’s problems rather than solutions.
I did not find a room
Sida CEO Marie Ottosson disagrees. She thinks that the collaboration with the Botkyrka municipality has basically gone well, but that it has still been impossible to get the move.
“We have been firmly convinced from the first day to carry out this move and put in enormous resources, but it did not work, because we did not find any free premises”, says Marie Ottosson.
But that it took more than two and a half years to establish it, even though the lack of empty premises according to the Botkyrka municipality was clear from the beginning, is precisely due to Sida’s vision of building new premises.
Don’t have the skills
It is a fact that Sida, as an authority, does not have the opportunity to make a so-called construction contract, which is required to build again. The government can give permission to do so, but Sida, after a lengthy investigation, concluded that it would be too complicated.
– We are good at development aid, but knowing what the law on public procurement is like is not our main competence. What we learned during this process is that it is legally difficult and it is important for us to do the right thing. We want to manage the state’s money well, says Marie Ottosson.
TT: So Sida as an authority does not have the required competence to build new facilities?
– We do not have that competence, and currently we do not have that right and mandate, says Marie Ottosson.
TT has applied for the post of Minister for Development Assistance Peter Eriksson (MP).
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