Better roads, infrastructure towards Barents Sea
Norway will over the next years invest heavily in the development of roads and infrastructure in the north, the country’s Minister of Transport said today. Among planned investments is the upgrade of the E6 road and the extension of the Kirkenes Airport near the border to Russia.
Minister Liv Signe Navarseter in her presentation of the government’s infrastructure plans for the High North said that both east-west and north-south transport connections will be given priority. Especially the E6 road will be undergo upgrades, Ms Navarsete said stressing that it in few years will have “a completely new looks”. The minister also highlighted the need for better east-bound road connections to the neighboring countries, both with Russia, Finland and Sweden. Among the minister’s priorities is the extension of the Kirkenes Airport, which will help facilitate transport of airborne goods to planned industrial projects in the region. Among those projects is the Russian Shtokman field, located in the Barents Sea north of Kirkenes. The minister participated in today’s government press conference on High North priorities together with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and three cabinet colleagues. Her speech comes just one day before she presents the government’s National Transport Plan, a document outlining the main infrastructure investment plans for the period 2010-2019.
