The Hindu Business Line : Scandinavia bridged, physically and economically

Every time I land in Copenhagen in the single-engine Cessna with my Danish friend and flight instructor, Torben Larsen, my piloting skills are challenged. Last week was no different. The summer air currents were jagged as we encountered very strong head-wind. While I meandered up to the final approach from the south-east, the Kastrup runway 25-R was in sight. But my vision, as always, did not let pass admiring the world’s longest 16-km tunnel and bridge across the Or esund Strait, just below my left wing.

Seven thousand years ago the glaciers that cleaved the strait connecting Scandinavia with Europe, melted into the Baltic Sea, dividing one land into two. Today, since 2000, a 21st century bridge that took 10 years to plan and construct, costing about 3 billion euros, connects the two once again.

On the surface, the bridge between Denmark and Sweden provides a quick ten minutes access for commuters, shoppers and anyone else who wants to drive a car across Oresund Strait. Before the bridge was built, crossing the strait took more than one hour by ferry. Burrow a little deep, and the enormous ripple effects throughout the economy of the Oresund Region, which encompasses eastern Denmark and southern Sweden becomes evident.

A one-way ticket to cross the bridge with a car costs 32 euros. The Oresund Bridge Consortium, the Danish-Swedish company that owns and operates the bridge, has a lower price for those who sign a six-month contract. The cost of the project will be repaid by tolls over a 30-year period. Toll rates are to be based on current ferry fares between Elsinore, Denmark and Helsingborg, Sweden. The world’s busiest ferry crossing, this system now carries 2.5 million cars every year.

New ties

Scania, Sweden’s southernmost province and home to Malmo, was part of the kingdom of Denmark for 800 years until 1658, when Swedes invaded it. The bridge provides a route with a stunning view by train, car or running shoes. But in the six years since it was built, it has also become a channel for cultural exchange, a prompt for thousands of Danes to pack up and move to Sweden, where housing and living is cheaper.

Construction wonder

The bridge truly is one of the modern wonders in construction, in Europe. Cars travel on a four-lane motorway on the upper level while trains operate on tracks below. Both Denmark and Sweden have benefited as there has been a boost in trade, research and culture by joining the region’s 3.2 million residents. Traditionally, Denmark has tended to look towards Germany, to the south, for trade rather than east to Malmo, which is Sweden’s third-largest city.

The total stretch between Denmark and Sweden, now connected by a fixed link, is 16 km. The bridge itself is 7.8 km long. With its cables arranged in a classic harp shape, the cable-stayed bridge across the Flint Channel is the most characteristic part of the link. It is the largest cable-stayed bridge for trains and cars in the world. The bridge has two decks — a concrete deck for a four-lane motorway and lower deck in a steel construction for the double-track railway.

An artificial island was built by the dredged material and is 4 km long and has an area of 1.3 sq. km. The tunnel has two rail tubes, two motorway tubes, and a service tube, which can be used as an escape route. The tunnel under Oeresund is 4 km long, consisting of a 3.5-km tunnel immersed in the sea with two portal buildings. Truly a technological marvel.

Baltic bridge

But the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Europe is just about to happen. Germany and Denmark have agreed to build a 20-km bridge spanning the waters between the two nations and cut travel times between Scandinavia and central Europe. Construction is likely to begin in 2011, with the road and rail span over the Fehmarn Strait scheduled for completion in 2018. About 9,000 people will be involved in building the bridge. It is expected to cost some 6.5 billion euros, with private investors paying part of the bill and the European Union also providing funds.

Motorists from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Hamburg, Germany, now load their cars onto a ferry to travel between Roedby on the Danish island of Lolland and Puttgarden on the German island of Fehmarn. Trains on the route also have to take the 45-minute ferry ride. The declaration of intent to build the bridge comes shortly after a German-British consortium bought the Baltic Sea ferry operator Scandlines, which operates the Roedby-Puttgarden route, from the Danish and German governments for 2 billion euros. The bridge’s economic benefits may reach 110 billion euros over 30 years. The estimate doesn’t include toll revenue from the bridge itself. Train transporters will save about 160 kilometers on the stretch between Hamburg and Copenhagen. Analysis also shows that there will be environmental gains in the form of lower carbon-dioxide emissions.

Infrastructure Concession

In a bridge and road infrastructure concession, a public authority grants specific rights to a private or semi-public company to construct, overhaul, maintain, and operate infrastructure for a given period. By contract, the public authority charges that company with making the investments needed to create the service at its own cost and to operate it at its own risk. The price paid to the company comes from the service’s users, the public authority, or both.

Europe has a wealth of experience with bridges and motorway concessions and the issues associated with concession contracts and other infrastructure funding systems, toll charges and other paths to remuneration, and risk sharing between concession authorities and concession companies.

India could greatly benefit in learning from the rich European experience.

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. Feedback may be sent to mohan.murti@t-online.de or mohan.murti@t-online.de)

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