Nordic ministers explore ways to finance infrastructure

Ministers of transport from the Nordic countries said here on Tuesday that the region is facing common challenges of financing infrastructure construction and maintenance to meet development needs.

A seminar held in Helsinki to seek solutions sent a message that relying on public budgetary resources alone is not a sustainable option.

"It is important to find new financial instruments and practices to enable efficient infrastructure development on a long-term basis," said a statement from the seminar, named "Rethinking Infrastructure Financing in the Nordics".

Among the participants were Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Anne Berner, Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Icelandic Minister of Transport and Local Government and Nordic Cooperation Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, and Director-General Ola Nordlander from the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation.

Talking about the common challenges, Solvik-Olsen mentioned the evident need for growth. "We all see growth of economy, the growth of population, we have challenges in transportation in the cities, at the same time we are sparsely populated," he told Xinhua on the sidelines of the seminar.

"We have important industries in the outskirts, for instance we need to get our fish to the market, so finding enough capital to invest in the roads, the maintenance, is an important issue," he elaborated.

Johannsson highlighted the government goal to make the Nordic "the most integrated area" in the world. "So our job as transport ministers is to find good solutions on how to increase the mobility of people. I am certain we can find them," he said to a Xinhua correspondent.

Berner said a well-functioning and up-to-date infrastructure is a prerequisite for competitiveness. "Any delays or failures in the projects may cause substantial economic and social costs. It is most natural for us to work together to find the best practices," she said.

Berner told Xinhua that Finland has studied many examples in areas where there are as long distances and sparse population as in Finland. "I think infrastructure in many ways has been seen in the Nordic countries as a national issue, and we are only starting to open it up to other financial instruments and financial models. And in that sense also open up the market in a certain way."

Berner has been pushing for an Arctic Railway connecting Finnish current railway system with Norway's Arctic port Kirkenes. More attention has been paid to another high-profile plan to build a tunnel linking Helsinki to Tallinn through the Baltic Sea. Financing has been a hot topic for these projects.

Berner said the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative calls for better connection between countries and regions "has been seen and learned in Finland." She said there are possibilities for cooperation.

"We see possibilities especially in areas where we are connecting Asian countries and Europe, and that could be in the digital infrastructure, or in the new waterways," she said.