The tunnel city FLC Village will be more or less deserted for a while during the Christmas period and until the New Year. It happens when the tunnel workers are sent on Christmas holiday from the big construction project, where it is otherwise normal for there to be a lot of activity almost 24 hours a day.
Specifically, 708 Polish tunnel workers are going home for the Christmas holidays.
– People have started to travel home for the Christmas holidays. The last ones go home on 23 December, says Jens Tornager, who is FLC Village Manager.
Over 800 guests for dining
There are only 19 Thais left, who work for the Norwegian subcontractor NRS and two or three students.
– The Thais don’t have a Christmas tradition as we do. But we have asked them what they would like to eat. They want to eat Thai food, and we make that for them, says Jens Tornager.
With so few left in the tunnel city over Christmas, not much has been done to decorate for Christmas. However, there are Christmas trees in the canteen, and on 14 December two large Christmas lunches were held.
708 Poles were at the Polish Christmas lunch and approximately 100, including a number of Danish blue-collar employees and invited subcontractors, were at the international Christmas dinner.
– We also wanted to do something for our subcontractors, so for the first time, we had three canteens in use at once. We had over 800 people through in an hour and a half, says Jens Tornager.
Sausages and sauerkraut
It is usually Euroworkers in Maribo who are responsible for the food in FLC Village, but for the Polish Christmas lunch, the Polish butcher in Vejle was hired for the task.
– We’re not going to try to cook Polish food. We probably won’t get away with it. So if we’re going to do it, we’ve got to do it right. And we did. So they were very happy, says Jens Tornager.
The Polish tunnel workers could therefore feast on a traditional Polish Christmas lunch with different types of sausages and sauerkraut, beetroot soup and cheesecake for dessert.
At the international Christmas lunch on the same day, different kinds of meat and potatoes and rice salamander and a cake table were served for dessert.
Minimum crew
The construction site closes on 23 December and is closed until and including the New Year. All that remains are guards, and a minimum level of workers, which ensures maintenance and that there is diesel at the pumps.
– Work will resume on 3 January. People start to come back to the Village on 2 January, so we get a lot of buzz there, says Jens Tornager.
Right now there are 768 rooms in the tunnel city. In mid-January, Adapteo is expected to have a further 64 rooms ready. The last 576 rooms are expected to be ready in mid-spring.
