Lolland Municipality is very positive about preserving the element factory at Rødbyhavn when the Fehmarn Tunnel is completed. But the municipality attaches great importance to the fact that a new factory operator will use technical water, also called grey water, for future production at the factory.
Groundwater reserves under pressure
The groundwater reserves on Lolland are under pressure, and there will be no possibility of supplying groundwater to the factory when the Fehmarn project is completed. It is, therefore, a prerequisite that future production at the factory takes place with technical water, Lolland Municipality writes in a consultation response to Sund & Bælt.
Femernreport has previously described that grey water, under the right circumstances, can be used for concrete production.
Compensation for compensatory nature
In response to the consultation, Mayor Holger Schou Rasmussen (S) also writes that preserving the element factory must not interfere with nature. In the construction law that applies to the Fehmarn construction site, and thus also to the element factory, it is a prerequisite that “replacement nature” is established. This means that if the construction goes beyond free nature and natural resources, these must be recreated – possibly somewhere else. It is also clear from the current Construction Act that all temporary structures – including the element factory – must be taken down and nature re-established when the tunnel is finished.
Lolland Municipality expects that all environmental conditions in accordance with the current Construction Act are complied with by preserving the element factory. This implies, among other things, a need to find an alternative to the compensation’s planned nature, as stated in the response to the consultation.
Factory must be active
Finally, Lolland Municipality emphasizes that the element factory must be active in order to be an asset for the municipality.
An active factory is a great asset, but the opposite can be said of a manufacturing facility in disrepair. There must therefore continue to be a responsible owner (presumably the state) who can guarantee that the factory will be removed when at some point, it is no longer needed, writes the municipality in its consultation response.
Overall, however, Lolland Municipality is enthusiastically positive about preserving the element factory.
Maintaining positive development
Locally, preserving the element factory will support employment and maintain the positive development the area is experiencing during the construction phase. This concerns both jobs at the factory itself and derivative employment among subcontractors within construction/construction, company services, etc.
A gain
New infrastructure and expansion of renewable energy production will, in any case, require production facilities on land. If these are to be established elsewhere, there will be a need to involve new areas and existing natural resources. A lasting production will be a gain both from a local economic, a social economic and a sustainability perspective, writes mayor Holger Schou Rasmussen in the municipality’s consultation response.
