MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT: Knut Arild Hareide (KrF) Photo: Naina Helén Jåma / Naina Helén Jåma, VG
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The government maintains that Viken must guarantee for the E18 project for the state to pay its share of the Fornebubanen.
The dispute over the development of transport west of Oslo is getting worse.
Oslo Municipality and Viken County Municipality signed contracts with those who will build the new subway to Fornebu on Wednesday, according to Dagsavisen. They had then asked Transport Minister Knut Arild Hareide for a clarification by Tuesday evening about the government’s support for the project.
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“When there was no response, we feel we have got what we need to move forward,” Oslo’s city council for environment and transport, Arild Hermstad (MDG), told Dagsavisen.
However, the answer came Thursday. In a letter sent to the City Council, to which NTB and VG have been granted access, Hareide replies that a local decision on a loan guarantee for the E18 development is a prerequisite for the government to support the Fornebubanen.
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– It is now up to local parties to provide a necessary loan guarantee for the E18 project so that this can be realized. The state stands by its obligations. The key to realizing the Fornebubanen is therefore now with local authorities, Hareide writes in his letter.
He brought the same signal after a meeting with Arild Hermstad in the Oslo City Council and representatives of, among others, Viken County and Bærum Municipality last week.
—AGREE ON E18: Bærum’s Mayor Lisbeth Hammer Krogh (H) pictured after a meeting with Knut Arild Hareide (KrF) in the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Photo: Mattis Sandblad, VG
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Bærum’s mayor, Lisbeth Hammer Krogh (H), expects Viken County Municipality to act as guarantor for E18, to resolve the standstill for both the Fornebubanen and the new E18. In a text message to VG, she maintains that the Municipality of Bærum is prepared to stand as a guarantor – on the condition that Viken does the same.
– We expect Viken to provide a guarantee now. We have met all the requirements they made when the guarantee was withdrawn. Now E18 has become a new transport project that is becoming cheaper, has less road capacity and greater public transport capacity. All this is now in place. Then there is no reason why Viken again cannot give a guarantee, writes Krogh.
She adds: – We have said that we can take responsibility for the Strand-Ramstadsletta stretch so that the Høvik tunnel can be built at the same time.
Clarification in Viken after the holidays
VG did not get hold of Tonje Brenna (Ap), who is county councilor in Viken – Thursday afternoon. But after meeting with Transport Minister Hareide last week, she said:
– It was a good meeting at Hareide, where we benefited from seeing the whole. Now we must think carefully – about the last remaining question of guarantee for E18.
Brenna’s political adviser, Ingrid Endrerud (Ap), told VG later Thursday afternoon that no question will be taken on the issue of guarantee from Viken county council until late August.
Nor does Vikens county council for climate and the environment, Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim (Sp) is particularly informative.
– Have nothing to report. Sorry, Tvinnerieim writes in an SMS.
Head of Helge Orten (H) in the Storting’s transport committee, believes the ball is now with the Viken County Council to get both the Fornebubanen and the new E18 started.
– Both projects are part of a larger whole in Oslo Package 3. You can’t just choose what you like in a large transport package like this. I would warn against going away from this type of settlement where projects are closely linked, Orten tells VG.
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