Response to interpellation 2023/24:235 on the Norrbotniabanan
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned the Norrbotniabanan and the handling of appeals regarding the Dåva-Skellefteå section. KD argued that the government wants to facilitate work commuting and freight traffic to strengthen growth in northern Sweden 1. KD announced that the government rejected the appeals on December 7 and emphasized that it is an administrative matter that requires a careful process 1 2. KD explained that Trafikverket can now begin property acquisitions 2 and that the Skellefteå-Luleå section is being analyzed for possible advancement 3. S criticized the long time for the decision, which has caused economic problems for property owners and limited the municipalities' room for maneuver 4 5. S argued that the government did not take into account the Sami's demands for fauna crossings 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Åsa Karlsson has asked me if I intend to provide an update on the timeline regarding the handling of the appeals concerning the Norrbotniabanan to secure the finances of the municipalities, regions, the business community, and affected property owners, as well as to provide an update on a timeline for when the railway plans regarding Dåva to Skellefteå will be decided.
The Government wants to facilitate commuting and freight traffic to strengthen jobs and growth throughout the country. In Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties, an extensive re-industrialization is underway linked to fossil-free production and electrification. The Government sees great opportunities for northern Sweden to lead the industrial revolution and become an engine for green innovations. The infrastructure in northern Sweden, of which the Norrbotniabanan is an important part, is of great significance for both commuting and freight traffic in the region. Norrbotniabanan is included in the national plan for transport infrastructure, and work is ongoing at different stages for different sections, where the first section Umeå-Dåva is under construction.
I can inform Åsa Karlsson that the government on 7 December decided in the matters concerning the six appealed railway plans regarding the Norrbotniabanan. In the decisions, the government rejected the appeals.
Åsa Karlsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister!
The situation has now changed compared to when I wrote the interpellation, but it is still worth debating. The construction of the Norrbotniabanan is now underway between Umeå and Dåva. The next section is Dåva-Skellefteå, and after that, plans are made for the section Skellefteå-Luleå.
Appeals have been received regarding the Dåva-Skellefteå stretch. The appeals were placed on the government's and thus the minister's desk to be processed at the beginning of this year.
Now the year is coming to an end. We have just now, a couple of weeks ago, received an answer from the government regarding these appeals. It has taken almost a year, eleven months. It is a very long time. The answer we have received is that the government has rejected all appeals.
The municipalities, regions and the business community, as well as affected property owners in northern Sweden, have been concerned during the past year. They have not known how it was going to be, and they have not had any timetable.
Property owners who have waited to have their properties expropriated have not been able to do so until the railway plans have gained legal force. They have found themselves in a very difficult situation in a vacuum where they have not known what will happen or how long the process will take.
Several property owners have been caught in the crossfire during the delay of the decision on the appeals for the Dåva-Skellefteå section. Some of the property owners, and now we are talking about private individuals, have purchased new homes and have been left with double housing costs for a long time.
Of nine property owners on a street in Skellefteå, eight have purchased replacement housing already in the spring of 2022 so that the railway plans would be completed by the turn of the year 2022/23, i.e., a year ago.
They have now been there with dual residences since the spring of 2022 with all that entails in terms of costs over their heads. But after the government's decision, the property redemptions will hopefully now begin as soon as possible.
Other property owners have not dared to buy new housing. They are now in a situation where it is difficult to find housing in Skellefteå today with the development that the green transition entails and with the municipality's development with many seeking housing in Skellefteå. There are hardly any properties or homes to buy, and the prices for these are high. The housing shortage is great, as we have debated earlier this evening.
Furthermore, the municipalities concerned have ended up in a difficult situation as they have not had planning conditions because they have had to await the government's decision. They have been restricted in their room for maneuver.
It is not reasonable that individual property owners should suffer economic losses resulting from the government's delay. It is not reasonable that the affected municipalities have not been able to plan because they do not have the planning conditions.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! On 7 December, the Government reached a decision in the matters concerning the six appealed railway plans regarding Dåva-Skellefteå. The Government has dismissed the appeals, and Trafikverket's confirmation decision thus stands.
This is an administrative matter. The Norrbotniabanan is a large project that affects many people and many different opposing interests, both private and public. It has therefore been important that the matters have been prepared carefully and diligently.
At the same time, it is of course a priority issue and has been a prioritized administrative matter. But I want to emphasize that it is precisely an administrative matter where the government is the final instance and where, with several different opposing interests, it is important to have a careful and thorough process.
I understand that the situation that has arisen may have led to a troublesome situation, as the member is pointing out. But it is important and urgent that the administrative processes we have for this type of matter also follow the existing routines, even if, of course, it has been and is a prioritized matter.
For compensation issues, there is a regulated process. Trafikverket can now initiate that process and redeem the affected properties. If voluntary agreements cannot be reached, the individual cases will be decided in court.
Åsa Karlsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister!
The government has now rejected all appeals concerning Dåva-Skellefteå, which can be seen as a victory for Västerbotten's coastal municipalities, for Region Västerbotten, and for the rest of the country as well, since the Norrbotniabanan is an important link for building together the whole country. It can also be seen as the starting signal for the continued construction of Norrbotniabanan. Now the railway plans can gain legal force on the section Dåva-Skellefteå.
We still have the Skellefteå-Luleå section, which also primarily needs to gain legal force given the green industrial transition that is now taking place in northern Sweden. How long will the work on the railway plans take? It has already been one and a half years since the national plan established that the railway plans should be initiated and the work intensified.
But the rejections of the appeals for the Dåva-Skellefteå stretch are not only positive for the parties in Västerbotten. The government has taken no consideration at all for the indigenous people, the Sámi, in its rejection.
Parts of the demands that the Sámi made in their appeals were actually quite simple to satisfy, for example, wildlife crossings. The new railway corridor becomes an obstacle for the reindeer's migration route. Wildlife crossings would have been a good way to avoid that obstacle.
Building fauna crossings is a small cost in this context. It is about crossings that need to be passed a few times a year during the winter and spring. Where does the problem lie?
An accident on the E4 road or the railway creates significantly longer traffic stoppages than a stop to move reindeer across the track a few times a year would involve.
For me, the government's decision not to accommodate the Sami's wish for fauna transitions is incomprehensible. The coast will be completely cut off for reindeer husbandry.
Why did the government not want to accommodate these simple demands from Sweden's indigenous people?
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! In the current administrative matter, a collective assessment has been made. I do not wish to comment further than that.
When it comes to Skellefteå-Luleå, we have, as the member also says, tasked Trafikverket to see what can be done in terms of advancing important infrastructure investments in the north.
The Skellefteå-Luleå stretch is included in that assignment. Trafikverket has identified that the stretch is possible to move forward. They have returned to the government with the assignment we gave them to, in fact, in a very short time, propose measures that could allow them to accelerate various necessary investments in the north. We have now received that proposal and are preparing and analyzing it at the Government Offices.
Åsa Karlsson (S)
Madam Speaker and Minister! It is welcome that a decision has been reached. But it is regrettable that it should have to take so long to receive a decision.
It is such a long time that private individuals have been so seriously economically affected that they are suing Trafikverket. I hope that we avoid seeing such unnecessary delays during the remaining construction of the Norrbotniabanan on the Skellefteå-Luleå section.
This is my last contribution in the chamber for this year. I would therefore like to wish the Presidium, the Government, colleagues, viewers and listeners a very Merry Christmas.
Statsrådet Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! As this was the tenth and final interpellation I answered tonight, it is also my last contribution in the chamber for this term.
Then I would also like to take the opportunity, Madam Speaker, to wish Åsa Karlsson, the members of the chamber, Madam Speaker, and all the employees at the Riksdag Administration, who are keeping the lamp of diligence burning until the very end here tonight, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will surely see each other in an interpellation debate in the future.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.