Damage to pipeline could increase state costs for Vestmannaeyjar

A new water pipeline being laid in Vestmannaeyjar was damaged aboard the vessel carrying out the work, Infrastructure Minister Eyjólfur Ármannsson told mbl.is.

The vessel Seven Navatica was used for the project. Ármannsson said he knew no more about the circumstances of the damage than what had been reported in the media.

A request from Vestmannaeyjabær municipality for the state to cover additional costs will be considered by a ministerial committee on coordination, according to the minister. The Infrastructure Ministry is reviewing the matter, but the Finance Ministry will make the final decision.

A declaration of intent signed in 2023 stated that the state would pay up to 80 per cent of costs exceeding 1.2 billion Icelandic krónur, subject to a maximum contribution of 800 million krónur. The project was then estimated to cost 3 billion krónur. Its cost after the damage is not yet known.

The project involves laying a civil protection water pipeline from Landeyjasandur to Heimaey. The municipality sent a request to the ministry earlier this summer asking the state to cover the project’s costs.

Contractors and the municipality have not disclosed how the damage occurred on August 9. Subsea 7, which is responsible for laying the pipeline, declined to comment and referred questions to the insurance company investigating the incident.

The pipeline has reached land but will be left there.