Municipal Association opposes plan to scrap ferry port fees

The Municipal Association is strongly opposing a government proposal to end port charges paid by the public ferry operator to municipal harbours, KVF reports. The change would save the operator seven million kroner, mainly in fees at Tórshavn’s harbour, as well as at ports in Sandur and Hvannasund.

The association says the proposal revives a dispute from 2009, when the then Ministry of the Interior warned that abolishing the charges by law would breach both the Government Act and the constitution. The ministry declined to prepare the bill.

The proposal was transferred to the Ministry of Fisheries, which saw no obstacle to putting it before parliament. It was introduced on November 4, 2009, but withdrawn a week later after the minister said it lacked support within the coalition.

The political composition of the coalition is the same now as it was then, KVF reports. The current coalition is ABC, and Jacob Vestergaard is the minister responsible. This time, his Ministry of Industry has endorsed a bill to remove the charges. The proposal has not been put out for consultation.

The Municipal Association says it cannot support the bill. Its chairman, Torbjørn Jacobsen, said he could not see what had changed since 2009, adding that neither the Government Act nor the constitution had changed. He described the situation as strange.