Government announces tunnel projects and Westfjords power bill

Foreign investors are expected in Iceland next week to attend an investment day hosted by the public infrastructure company Göng og brú, where the Sundabraut road project and the duplication of the Hvalfjörður Tunnel will be discussed, mbl.is reported.

Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir said at a press conference on the government’s priorities for the coming parliamentary session that preparatory work on the Fljótagöng tunnels in northern Iceland would begin this autumn.

“We have major foreign parties coming to the country who are interested in participating in these construction projects,” Frostadóttir said.

She also said the government would introduce a bill to accelerate the development of the electricity transmission system. A separate bill would address the situation in the Westfjords.

“We have a bill that cuts through the electricity bottleneck in the Westfjords, not unlike what we saw in the northeast,” Frostadóttir said.

She also announced the third framework plan for the third consecutive parliamentary session.

Finally, Frostadóttir said a bill on general fairness compensation would be introduced. The measure would apply to Icelanders who had suffered “unjustifiable treatment as children under the responsibility of the state,” she said.