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In Copenhagen, the artificial island of discord

2021-06-16T19:06:09.459Z


This "project of the century" provides for the construction of an artificial island of 2.8 square kilometers to protect the Danish capital from rising sea levels. It is controversial for its environmental cost.


It is a titanic project.

2.8 square kilometers of artificial island are to be created in the Baltic Sea in Copenhagen, the Danish capital.

The island of Lynetteholm meets two objectives: to accommodate 35,000 inhabitants in a city with strong demographic growth and to protect it against a rise in sea level. Yet many residents are fiercely opposed, denouncing an ecological aberration.

It all started in 2018. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, then center-right prime minister, launched the project. An agreement is quickly reached with the municipality, and the company By oh Havn, partly owned by the city and the Ministry of Transport will be in charge of the work. A new tunnel should make it possible to reach the city center using the metro. In addition, the income generated by the company will finance repairs to Copenhagen public transport. The works are to be spread from 2035 to 2070, at a cost of 2.5 billion euros. A name is found: Lynetteholm.

However the disputes are linked very quickly.

Against the By & Havn company first.

Since 2007, she has been constructing and renovating buildings in the Danish capital, selling them at prices above the market.

Local residents fear a surge in prices and that Lynetteholm will become a ghetto reserved for the richest.

To reassure them, the government is planning 20% ​​social housing.

An environmental cost denounced

Another complaint is recurrent: the disorder and noise generated by the work. 80 million tons of land must be dumped to create the artificial island. This is equivalent to the passage of 350 trucks per day! The associations also denounce an ecological cost, in particular for marine biodiversity. Indeed, the obstruction of the influx of salt water from the Baltic to the North Sea disrupts the oxygenation of the seabed, as Coalition Clean Baltic reminds us.

These accusations are rejected en bloc by the company By & Havn, studies in support. These relate only to the island and not to the tunnel or the urban developments retort the associations which have brought their battles before the European Court of Justice. It is the turn of neighboring Sweden to get involved. The construction of Lynetteholm will disrupt the sea currents of the strait, say authorities in Skåne County. “

There is a risk of contamination and reduced water flow in the straits. The Baltic Sea is already not in the best condition and we do not want any changes,

”Kristian Wennberg, head of water services for Skåne County, told Bloomberg.

For its part, the Danish government does not want to give in and calls Lynetteholm "

project of the century

". On June 4, the project was adopted in parliament by 85 votes against 12. Several stages are planned before the construction of the island, such as the installation in September of a giant wire cage.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-06-16

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