Two representatives of the Swedish and Danish business community support the idea of the establishment of a joint Swedish-Danish infrastructure commission has now also signed up. An idea, Malmö’s Mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh recently proposed while criticizing the Swedish border control in the Oresund region.
Per Bondemark, chairman of the Swedish Swedish Shippers´ Council and Michael Svane, CEO of Confederation of Danish Industry, Transportation devision, have an opinion piece in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on April 18, that states that “we have to plan infrastructure along with Denmark”.
The opinion piece supports Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh’s proposal to set up a Danish-Swedish infrastructure commission in a similar way to the Denmark and Germany has regarding the Fehmarnbelt Link.
With a joint location at the edge of Europe, and with long distances to global markets, well-functioning transport is crucial for the survival of the Scandinavian export industry, according to Per Bondemark and Michael Svane.
– The transport corridor through Skåne and Zealand, linking Scandinavia with the European markets is particularly important. Unfortunately, today there are still shortcomings in maintenance and persistent bottlenecks, which seriously restrict the efficiency of the transport route, they state.
Bondemark and Svane point out that even though the green light is now given to Denmark to proceed with the establishment of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, the problem is that the further connections to Germany, Denmark and Sweden do not meet the same standard.
– Through cooperation, the Scandinavian countries stand stronger in international competition; our peripheral location means that we cannot afford bottlenecks blocking our freight. Our countries need common prognoses to identify future joint decision-making and investment plans. Our goal is a common transport plan.
– A necessary first step is for the governments and transport authorities in Sweden and Denmark to look beyond national boundaries and think in corridors instead of individual routes at national level, Per Bondemark and Michael Svane write in Svenska Dagbladet.
The desire for a common infrastructure planning in Scandinavia is an extension of the Stockholm Declaration, which STRING’s top political leadership adopted together with EU coordinator Pat Cox on April 8, 2016.
See the original article HERE
See the Stockholm Declaration HERE
