Barents Governors want common transport solutions
SYKTYVKAR: - New mining industry and other raw material business makes it evident that transport and logistics in the north must be given high priority in the years to come, says the Chair of the Barents Regional Council and Chair of Troms County Government, Pia Svensgaard.
The Barents Regional Council met Wednesday in Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic, and it is coherent in its initiative to strengthen better transport solutions.
The amount of goods, especially raw materials, is increasing as a result of new mining activity in Finland and Sweden. The fish farming industry is also building up extensively along the coast of Norway and moving further north. This together with increased oil and gas activity makes the need for better transport and logistics solutions a case of high priority for regional and national governments.
- Large investments have to be made in transport and logistics in our northern areas in the near future, and new railways are key solutions to many of these challenges, says Pia Svensgaard, Chair of the Barents Regional Council to BarentsObserver. She states that the increase in the amount of goods will help make new transport solutions more profitable.
- Railways also represent an environmentally sound solution as profitable train freight can more easily compete with the large number of trucks crisscrossing the Barents Region today, Svensgaard says.
Various plans for new railways between the northern Norwegian coast and Russia and Finland have been discussed for decades. So far, none of the plans have become reality. The transporters themselves will probably, in the end, have to make the decision, based on profitability.
The Chair of the Barents Regional Council also wants better logistics for passenger transport in the north, and especially on the East-West axis. She welcomes new flight routes between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and opens up for governmental economic support in the initial process of establishing such flights. - New flight routes are of common interest to all the Barents member states, and we must cooperate in this effort, she says.
Svensgaard got strong support in her views on new logistics at the Barents Regional Council meeting in Syktyvkar on Wednesday. Governor of Västerbotten County, Chris Heister, stressed that the European Union now is both more aware of and dependent on the Barents Region than ever before.
- In developing our logistics and transport, we must be heard in the EU. This should really be a matter of course when we know how much the northern part of Europe contributes to the rest of Europe in terms of raw materials, Heister says.
Text: Arne Egil Tønset
