– There will be wage pressure, and we feared losing employees.
This was the response from Jan Sørensen, director of the construction company MSE, when he was asked about the consequences of the Fehmarn construction for his company at the People’s Meeting on Bornholm.
The enormous project created a demand for qualified employees, and MSE also had to say goodbye to five employees who chose to switch to the consortia.
– But three came back after a month. The fourth came back after four months, and the last one after a year, because working in an international company is something entirely different, Jan Sørensen remarked with some satisfaction.
Seeing opportunities in everything
Also participating in the debate was Jens Koefoed, director of Bornholm’s PLE, which, with around 115 employees, is the largest construction company on Bornholm. They are looking forward to the work of building the enormous energy island, which will be located about 15 kilometers from Bornholm and house wind turbines with a total capacity of three gigawatts.
Through a cable, the wind turbine power will be transmitted to Bornholm, where it will be converted to direct current before being further transmitted. The project is gigantic, but Jens Koefoed is not afraid of losing employees to the project.
– I don’t have that concern. We see opportunities in everything and certainly in this project as well, he said.
Plenty of time to practice
The big question in the debate was how a local area can benefit permanently from megaprojects and whether Bornholm can learn anything from Lolland’s experiences with the Fehmarn construction.
Here, Lolland Municipality’s mayor, Holger Schou Rasmussen (S), said that there was a long lead-in to the first spade in the ground for the tunnel project.
– We have had plenty of time to practice, he said, explaining about Femern Belt Development’s work in preparing the local business community to bid on tasks.
– When we knew the factory would be located locally, we began to ensure that local companies got tasks, he said, noting that it has resulted in Danish companies handling about 70 percent of the tasks on the tunnel construction.
Lucky the project was delayed
MSE has also benefited from this, reported Jan Sørensen.
– We have always tried to make ourselves available. And we were lucky that the entire project was delayed, and we received advanced tasks that we could adapt to, he said, referring to the fact that a number of preliminary works were initiated before the formal first spade in the ground.
All in all, the Fehmarn project has been a great benefit for MSE.
– For us, it has been very positive. It has provided turnover and earnings and lifted us as a company, so we can make a name for ourselves in Zealand and bid on large tenders, he said.
