A permanent tunnel element factory at Rødbyhavn is high on the wish list of local parliamentary candidates.
The parliamentary candidates who are standing in Lolland, John Vind (DF), Kasper Roug (S) and Claus Dyremose (K), as well as Kim Malmberg Hansen (DF), who is running in Kalundborg, visited the Femern construction site on Wednesday to see the project for themselves and debate the project’s possibilities. The factory, which is currently being built, must remain standing when the Fehmarn Belt project is finished, all the candidates believed.
Elements for home and abroad
– The element factory can be used for coastal protection, for foundations for offshore wind turbines, for bridge elements and then it can be used if there is a need for it in Sweden, Norway, England, or wherever it is, says John Vind.
– And if you make the Kattegat connection with a tunnel, the factory is already down here, adds Kim Malmberg Hansen.
Must be done properly
However, it must also be ensured that any permanentization of the factory is done properly.
– It doesn’t help if Femern A/S and Sund og Bælt say to Lolland Municipality: “Here are the keys, and then you can have good luck with it”. We need them not to let it go completely. They must make sure that a smooth transition is made so that we can get people with expertise in and run this. The municipality does not have the resources to get it up and running. We need a smooth transition between Sund and Bælt and a public-private collaboration, says Kasper Roug.
Local growth
A permanent element factory in southern Lolland will be able to contribute to local growth, the candidates believe.
– There must be a potential to be able to utilize it in the future, once it has been built, says Claus Dyremose.
Need a lift
– The area needs to be lifted. Right now, the series is running about Carmen Curlers and how it lifted Kalundborg. If you can do something similar down here, whether it’s the factory or other things, then you should do it, adds Kim Malmberg Hansen.
The element factory will require a lot of labour, and work must be done to ensure that it originates from the local area.
Benefits locals
– There will be some knowledge-heavy, which is not necessarily local workplaces. Still, it is of course, important to get as many locals as possible in, says Kim Malmberg Hansen.
– The construction is already benefiting a lot of local companies, and it will also be like this in the future if the element factory stays there. Then there will be both locals, but there will also be a need for labour to come from elsewhere, adds Claus Dyreholm.
Political cooperation
It is important to cooperate between the local candidates in order to reach the goal of a permanent factory and other projects on Lolland, Kasper Roug believes.
– What is most important, I think, is that politically we always make sure to support the fact that the factory must be made permanent. We must move the coastline 500 meters from the old to the new coast. And we must have established some proper education sites. There, it is important that we pull together in relation to, also cross-politically, that we must see this as something important after 2029. Because the work on what needs to happen after 2029 is what we have to prepare and work on now. It requires political courage and cooperation, and that we see each other as a local team down here and not just political partners and opponents, he says.
