There is an ongoing investigation into the conditions at the construction of the Storstrøm Bridge. This is confirmed by the South Zealand and Lolland-Falster Police to FemernBusiness.
The investigation concerns the matters that the Danish Road Directorate has sent to the authorities following the revelations in the DR documentary 'At the state's expense.'
It was revealed that migrant workers from Albania, who have come to Denmark under the so-called pay scheme, requiring them to have a minimum monthly salary of 40,000 kroner, are paying money back to their employer Tekno Fire.
- We give money back to our employer. Every single month, says an anonymous mole in the documentary.
This happens while the workers are constructing some of the country's largest public buildings. These include the Storstrøm Bridge, Odense University Hospital, and Zealand University Hospital in Køge.
The workers were initially suspended from the construction sites at all three projects. A few days later, the Albanian workers returned to the hospital construction sites in Køge and Odense. But not at the construction of the Storstrøm Bridge.
Itinera, the main contractor on the project, conducted their own investigation of the conditions at the construction site. An investigation that exonerated Tekno Fire and was simultaneously handed over to the police.
At the Danish Road Directorate, which is the client for the Storstrøm Bridge, they maintained the suspension of the Albanian company.
- Itinera's investigation of Tekno Fire has not changed the Danish Road Directorate's stance, and therefore Tekno Fire is still unwelcome at our construction site.
The Danish Road Directorate assesses, however, that Tekno Fire's absence from the Storstrøm project will not affect the timeline. It concerns 15 employees who performed electrical installation work.
Denmark's third largest bridge
The new Storstrøm Bridge was approved in the Danish Parliament with the traffic agreement of March 21, 2013.
The first sod was turned on September 27, 2018.
The construction of the new Storstrøm Bridge amounts to 4.3 billion kroner in 2023 prices. This price also includes the demolition of the old bridge.
The EU supports the project with up to 425 million kroner.
The bridge will be 3,832 meters long, making it the third longest bridge within Denmark's borders, after the East and West Bridges on the Great Belt, which are 6.8 and 6.6 kilometers long, respectively. The Øresund Bridge, which is only half Danish, is longer at almost 8 kilometers.
The new Storstrøm Bridge will be equipped with two railway tracks, a nine-meter-wide highway, and a 2.5-meter-wide path for pedestrians and cyclists.
The bridge was originally supposed to be ready for car traffic in 2022 and trains in 2023, but is now expected to be ready for cars in 2025 and trains in 2027.
The old Storstrøm Bridge, which will be demolished when the new one is completed, dates back to 1937. With its 3.2 kilometers from coast to coast, it was Europe's longest bridge for 28 years.
