Work is in full swing on the quay in Berlevåg, where a new industrial building will soon be completed. By the quay, the building will house maritime activities, while the second floor will be used for the ambulance station and fish welfare. But the industrial building has created major contradictions in the fishing village. Because the price tag on the municipal building has gone from NOK 17 million to over NOK 43 million. This debt comes on top of an already large municipal debt. That worries municipal council representative for the Conservative Party Ingrid Mikalsen, who fears that the cost gap will go beyond the municipality’s offer to residents. – I think the municipality must be involved in financing the building for many years to come. Now we just have to hope that the building will be finished by Christmas. And then we hope that actors will enter the building who can pay the rent we must have in order to be able to finance the building. Ingrid Mikalsen in Berlevåg Høyre fears that the price tag on the new port building will affect young and elderly people in the city. Photo: Sidsel Vik / news – The point of the building is to create activity In Berlevåg, the population has declined sharply over the past 50 years. Now there are only just over 900 residents left in the fishing village. Nevertheless, the municipality has carried out several large construction projects in recent years, including a swimming pool and major upgrades to the harbor area. The debt pressure per inhabitant in Berlevåg is now the highest in the whole country. Mayor Rolf Laupstad from the Labor Party, who has been one of the campaigners to have the industrial building set up on the quay, defends the investment, even though the price tag has almost tripled compared to the original price. – The point of the building is to create activity and new jobs in the Berlevåg community. We already have a tenant in place who sells ready-made lines for fishing boats. The company ensures that we get more boats into Berlevåg, and more receiving of fish, says Laupstad. STRONG BUDGET PRESSURE: The new port building in Berlevåg was supposed to cost NOK 17 million, but the price tag has become NOK 43 million. Photo: Sidsel Vik / news Questioning the construction process Industribygget has created hard fronts in the political environment as well. Distrust of the former port manager led to him moving from Berlevåg. The case also divided the Berlevåg Labor Party, which until last summer had a majority in the municipal council. Local team leader in the Center Party Trygve Daldorf says several of the local political parties have been critical of the industrial building right from the start. – All the time since the municipal elections in 2019, we have been critical and asked questions without having received reasonable answers as to why the building has become increasingly expensive. We still lack an answer to that to this day, says Daldorf. Together with the local teams in SV and Høyre, Berlevåg Senterparti has followed the process closely. Last summer, the municipal council stopped construction due to increased costs. Trygve Daldorff believes that the intention with the building is good. But that it eventually developed into a prestigious building and pushed through. – When a commercial building goes from NOK 17 million to over NOK 43 million, something has gone wrong over a long period of time. Trygve Daldorff in the Berlevåg Center Party says that he has asked for an explanation as to why the industrial building will be so much more expensive than first thought, without receiving an answer. Photo: Sidsel Vik More worried about eviction than municipal debt Mayor Rolf Laupstad says he will not comment on the management of this project. But he defends the sharp increase in costs by saying that new tenants have come in who have had special needs. He is confident that the rental income will pay the increased costs. – This commercial building has gone from being a building with simple locations to becoming more advanced, with a freezer room and an ambulance station. This has made the building more expensive. But the rental income will also be greater now. So I think that the industrial building will be a great addition to the harbour. Industrial buildings in Berlevåg will be completed in December. It causes unrest in the small fishing village that it will be much more expensive than planned. Photo: Sidsel Vik / news The municipal debt in Berlevåg is just under 400 million. It’s a lot to handle for 900 residents. Nevertheless, it is not the debt pressure but the population trend that worries the mayor. – We need people to move to Berlevåg. We need activity. Then I’m pretty sure we’ll handle the debt. But if there is stagnation and even more evictions, the municipality will eventually have a problem, says mayor Rolf Laupstad.
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The municipality’s new harbor building was three times as expensive as agreed – news Troms and Finnmark
