MAJORSTUA, OSLO (Nettavisen): the Municipality of Oslo continues the acquisition of crèches, and now asks the city council to approve the purchase of a section of a kindergarten in a new building in gate 17 of Middelthuns in West Majorstua in Oslo. That at a price of NOK 81.5 million.
– Buying land and buildings in the center of Frogner, right next to the Majorstua metro station, costs money, but we have to ensure childcare centers throughout the city, even where house prices are higher, says the councilor municipality of education and knowledge, Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll (SV)., in Nettavisen.
The nursery section is about 750 square meters, and will have the right to use a built outdoor area of 923 square meters. In its recommendation to the city council, the city council justifies the purchase “by guaranteeing sufficient nursery capacity in the area”.
When Nettavisen visited the construction site on Wednesday, there was full construction activity on the kindergarten, which is expected to open in 2023.
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– Could save
The purchase comes a few months after the city council bought another new nursery for NOK 68.6 million at Malerhaugveien 20 in Ensjø, in the Old Oslo district. In total, the bill for the two properties is NOK 150 million.
The use of money makes the Conservative Party in Oslo react strongly.
– I can’t get him to stay. We have a city council chief who comes out and says this is a year of crisis for the city of Oslo. It will now be cut for all intents and purposes, but still manage to spend NOK 150 million of Oslo people’s money to buy two sections of private nurseries, says city council politician Mehmet Kaan Inan (H) in Nettavisen, and points out:
– The money could have been used for completely different things. Or they might not spend the money and save for hard times like the rest of us have to do. It’s not money the municipality has to spend, he thinks.
As you know, the city council bought some private nurseries to reduce the number of private commercial nurseries in the city. Until March they had spent NOK 2.6 billion to build, purchase and maintain crèches. About NOK 600 million went towards purchasing nursery sections in private housing projects.
Further down in the matter, Holmås Eidsvoll responds to criticism from the Conservative Party.
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– Private should be run
The right-wing politician believes the city council should rather let private individuals purchase and manage Frogner’s asylum.
– Had the current political leadership with the Labor Party, SV and MDG not introduced a ban on opening new private daycare centers, a specialist daycare company could have bought the property and run an excellent daycare here, says Kaan Inan .
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– But the reason they buy the nursery is that there is a need for more places for the nursery?
– No, what the data show is that the number of children attending kindergarten has decreased under the current city council. The figures also show that the number of nursery places in Oslo has decreased. There is no need for new kindergartens in Oslo, she says.
He also does not believe that parents and children are so worried about whoever runs the kindergarten.
– What worries parents is that their children receive a good offer. We also know that parents with children in a private daycare are more satisfied with the offer than parents with children in a municipal daycare. It has been proven over and over again, says Kaan Inan.
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– He is a myth
– Private nurseries are often owned by large chains that profit from nurseries. So maybe it is better that the money be returned to the residents by the municipality that runs the nursery?
– It is a myth that has been disproved several times, and even the socialists who govern Oslo know it. It is not the case that private individuals make a lot of money from childcare management, she says, and she points out that there are childcare chains that don’t take a dime in dividends and that use the profits to increase the quality of the offer to children.
If bourgeois parties win next year’s municipal elections in Oslo, the conservative politician promises change:
– Then people will stop using the Oslo people’s tax money to buy private kindergartens. We will use that money for completely different things in the municipality, Kaan Inan says.
The Conservative Party will also lift the ban on opening new commercial nurseries in Oslo.
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The city council reacts
However, the Norwegian Kindergarten Board is reacting strongly against the Conservative Party.
– Inan’s reasoning doesn’t hold up. One moment he says there is no need for more nursery places in the city, and the next he says the municipality should let a private player buy and operate this nursery, Holmås Eidsvoll tells Nettavisen.
– I think the Conservative Party has to decide, or we need crèches – or not, he points out.
Eidsvoll points out that there is a great need for nursery places in the Frogner district, where the new nursery is located. Among other things, because the Månestråle private kindergarten in the same location, with a total of 90 children, will be closed from New Year’s.
– Plus, you’ll have a large housing project here with 329 homes that families will move into, and that in itself means we need new nurseries, he says.
In addition, the municipal Fredrikke kindergarten in Frognerveien will be terminated next year, as the lease expires.
– So the district has planned to move that kindergarten with staff and children to the new kindergarten in Middelthuns gate, says the city council, which also says that overall in Oslo it is true that there are enough places for kindergartens.
– We have to take advice on this
– But can we afford to spend NOK 80 million on it when there are tough financial times, as the city council leader pointed out?
– We have to afford kindergarten places, because the alternative if we don’t have enough kindergarten places is that it will be difficult for parents to get to work. We need parents to get down to business and children to learn social skills, play and develop the language, so it’s very important to spend money on it, says Eidsvoll.
Defends the city council’s policy of not allowing the continuation of private and commercial nurseries.
– Nursery schools are the responsibility of the public. It is public subsidies and parental payments that pay for daycare, and it costs no less for private commercial operators to run them, the city council says.
Eidsvoll also snorts at claims that private daycare chains don’t make that much money.
– I think it’s incredibly naive. What do you really think private trading companies do if they have no intention of making money?
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– It was a long process
The city council will now decide whether the purchase will be made and, if all goes according to plan, the kindergarten at Middelthuns gate, with space for 63 children, will open in August next year.
– This was a long process, and it started when the Conservative Party itself sat on the city council in 2013 and reported that here in the area, in connection with the zoning plan, nursery places are needed, says Eidsvoll .
