Neighbor quarrel, lawsuit and budget slam. Statsbygg now estimates that the total price tag for the memorial will end at NOK 672 million. And so it is the road, not the art, that costs. About 80 percent of the total cost will go to the development of the road down to the memorial site. This is confirmed by communications director Hege Njaa Aschim in Statsbygg. The road is approximately 150 meters long, according to Aschim. However, she emphasizes that it is the cost of construction and design of the road that blew up the original budget. The design of what has now become 150 meters with a road down to the memorial site will probably cost more than half a billion kroner, Statsbygg states. The reason is ground conditions that have made it complicated and expensive to arrange for arrival at the actual memorial site down on the quay. Photo: Manthey Kula / NTB Only 10 to 15 percent of the price tag has gone to pay for the monument itself, 77 bronze columns that represent each of the victims who had to pay with their lives during the terrorist incident on July 22, 11 years ago. According to the preliminary cost calculation, the price for the road will correspond to around NOK 538 million. This is more than ten times as much as it was estimated that the entire project would cost when the government approved the plans for a national memorial back in 2013. news has previously written that the price of the road approached NOK 400 million. Now it has become even more expensive. A bit of art Director Tone Hansen at the art museum Henie Onstad thinks the cost of the road is high. She has previously called the project process an “economic disaster”. – You get the urge for a little bit of a road budget to make art projects when you see how much it costs to improve a road area in relation to what it costs to make art, Hansen says to news today. Director Tone Hansen at Henie Onstad says she feels like a little bit of a road budget to create art when she sees the price tag for Utøyakaia. But now is the time to look ahead and enjoy a worthy memorial, she believes. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB She still believes it is important to look ahead: – Now we close this chapter and we are happy that we can move forward with a place that provides a worthy reminder of what happened on Utøya. Pandemic, lawsuit and difficult construction conditions The cost increase is due to difficult construction conditions, a lawsuit and the corona pandemic, according to communications director Hege Njaa Aschim in Statsbygg. – When delays are created in a construction project like this, enormous costs are triggered, she says. – Could it have been avoided that the total costs were so high? – With the starting point we had, there were not very many other ways to do it. Thus, we also got this cost increase. Getting the memorial site in place has been a demanding process, says communications director Hege Njaa Aschim at Statsbygg. In the state budget for 2022, the project received an increased cost framework of a total of NOK 715.5 million after it became clear that several factors created trouble for the construction process. – In terms of results, we are below this cost framework when we have now finished the project. Aschim emphasizes that the cost calculation is preliminary, as the final accounts will not be ready until October. The ground conditions on Utøya have made it complicated and expensive to make a road there. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news Troubled process The road to a finished memorial site has been long. The decision on a national memorial came in 2013. At that time, the plan was for it to be located on Sørbråten, a headland about 500 meters north of Utøya. The price was then estimated at NOK 40.5 million. But the plans for Sørbråten led to violent reactions from local residents and politicians. The conflict ended with the entire Sørbråten project being shelved and the plans for a memorial site having to be re-laid. The road is the most expensive part of the national memorial on Utøyakaia. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news Enormous cost gap The choice fell on Utøyakaia, where the ferry Torbjørn docks. But the new plans also came with a huge cost slump, and the new price rose to 500 million kroner. The conflict did not stop there either. In the autumn of 2020, 16 of the neighbors sued the state. Several of the plaintiffs were among those who helped save the young people on Utøya in 2011. The neighbors feared retraumatization and mass tourism by having a memorial so close to their own homes. Facilitating the memorial site has been a demanding and expensive construction. In addition, the lawsuit came from the neighbors who postponed the construction project by several months. Delays in large construction projects always cost a lot, Statsbygg states. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB According to Aschim in Statsbygg, the lawsuit is the main reason why the memorial site could not be opened for the planned 10-year celebration last summer. The plaintiffs won a court round which led to the project having to be stopped while the case was ongoing. In February 2021, the case was decided. The neighbors lost and Statsbygg was able to continue the work. – It has been an important but demanding project, says Aschim. Long-awaited opening But now the memorial can finally open. On Saturday 18 June, the opening will be marked with speeches, poems and musical elements. Around 500 will participate and Crown Prince Haakon is among the speakers. Lisbeth Røyneland leads the national support group after 22 July. She says it means a lot that the memorial site is now finally opening. Photo: Audun Braastad / NTB scanpix Leader of the national support group for survivors after July 22, Lisbeth Røyneland, thinks the process has taken far too long. But she is happy that the memorial site can finally open. – I think it is very big that it finally opens after so many years. It has been a long journey. – It means a lot to finally get this in place.
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80 percent of the cost for Utøyakaia has gone to road development – news Kultur og underholdning
