Look to Murmansk
Over the next years, Murmansk is to invest 40 billion roubles in the development of ports. These are real stuff High North policies, and put Norwegian plans for the region in the shadows, newspaper Nordlys writes in an editorial.
According to the Murmansk regional administration, the capacity of the Murmansk port will double by year 2015. Infrastructure and industrial facilities along the Kola Bay is high on both the Russian federal and regional level. The planned investments in infrastructure will turn Murmansk into a living and dynamic engine in the High North, editor in chief Hans Kristian Amundsen writes. Meanwhile, in Norway located few kilometres west, investments in infrastructure remains sparse. According to a draft new National Transport Plan — the main infrastructure plan in the country hardly any funding is reserved for the development of the areas bordering Russia. Nordlys also calls for simplified cross-border travel conditions over the Norwegian-Russian border. In addition comes the need for better exchange of work force between the two countries. The latter does not automatically mean a brain-drain from Russia to Norway. As noted by Mr. Amundsen, the need for qualified work force in Murmansk will be just as big as in northern Norway, and the specialists might just as well choose Murmansk.
