MDG has repeatedly pointed to price increases in the use of tunnel boring machines to explain the budget gap in Oslo. It accounts for 15 percent, figures from the municipality show.
The Liberal Party and the Green Party in Oslo are critical of the way the Green Party has explained the cost gap in the capital.
After seeing the figures that show what led to the price estimate for Oslo’s new reserve water supply increasing from NOK 12.5 billion to NOK 17.7 billion.
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Holte Consulting stated in May that price increases in the market accounted for a significant part of the budget gap in the raw water tunnel to Huseby, west of Oslo.
On several occasions, the Green Party has pointed to unforeseen price increases in the rental of tunnel boring machines as a significant factor in the budget gap.
It is true that costs have increased, but figures Nettavisen has received from the Norwegian Water and Sewerage Authority show that increased prices for tunnel boring machines do not account for more than 15 per cent of the total cost increase.
This is how the cost increases are distributed. TBM stands for tunnel boring machine.
The other item contains, among other things, somewhat increased transport costs, and increased costs for assembly halls and access tunnels, Nettavisen is informed by the Water and Sewerage Authority.
The cost increases apply here for the raw water tunnel, which in the project is referred to as E5.
1.2 billion more for salaries
Increased rig and operating costs account for 42 per cent of the increased costs, which in kroner and øre will be 2.2 billion.
Staffing and salaries account for 23 percent of the increase, or NOK 1.2 billion.
The price of the TBM system has increased by NOK 780 million.
5.2 billion is the cost gap of all time in the Norwegian municipal sector, and late information to the city council led to a majority in the city council behind a no-confidence motion against environmental councilor Lan Marie Berg (MDG).
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Hallstein Bjercke in the Liberal Party believes that the city council has misled the people and the city council in their communication of the crack.
– At the press conference after the revised budget was presented in May, they presented it as if TBM was the main reason for the cost increase, but it is only a fraction that is due to TBM, he says to Nettavisen.
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Mentioned several times
Berg has all along thought that she has given the city council correct information and that she could not do anything to prevent the budget gap.
The Holte report agrees that cost growth was difficult to predict, but Berg has repeatedly used increased rental costs of tunnel boring machines as a leading explanation for the media.
– There has been a cost increase when it comes to the construction industry and especially when it comes to tunnel drilling. That is why I have come back to ask for the cost limit to be increased, she said below the press conference on 21 May.
In a Facebook post on June 16th tunnel drilling machine was the only concrete example in Berg’s explanation of the cost increase.
“Among other things, it has become far more expensive to use tunnel boring machines.”
She said the following Dagbladet on 16 June:
– The City Council has received information very quickly – they have received a quality-assured case with thorough information that shows why increasing costs is unfortunately the best and cheapest option, and that no one is to blame, because it is the market that has changed, and the prices for digging with tunnel boring machines have increased. It was important for me to bring it out, that we got this in just over three months to the city council, and I am very proud of that.
Parliamentary candidate Rasmus Hansson (MDG) wrote the following in VG June 11:
– Now a cost crack has been announced on the water supply project in Oslo municipality. This is due, simply explained, to the fact that, among other things, the use of tunnel boring machines has become much more expensive.
Who is to blame?
As Nettavisen has written before, three reports from Multiconsult thought that traditional blasting would be the cheapest alternative to making the 10 kilometer long raw water tunnel between Huseby and Holsfjorden.
But the municipality chose to rely on the majority of the reports, which pointed to the tunnel boring machine as cheaper. The agency stands by this election, even after the budget gap.
The city council lost confidence in Berg after she waited for what she called a “quality assurance” of the budget gap before she finally informed the city council in May.
This quality assurance came in the form of a report from Holte Consulting on 10 May.
The report concludes that unforeseen cost increases in the market are the main reason for the budget gap.
For tunnel boring machines, it states the majority of the studies believe that TBM will be cheaper and faster, but that the lack of expertise in TBM in Norway creates uncertainty.
“The fact that drilling and blasting has long been the dominant driving method may have led to a competence vacuum at TBM in the advisory communities,” Holte writes.
The opposition is now calling for more information on what exactly led to the budget gap.
Led behind the light
– We were a little surprised by that, says Hallstein Bjercke in the Liberal Party about the figures from the Water and Sewerage Authority.
He refers to the press conference on the revised budget on 20 May, where he believes the city council gave the impression that TBM was the most important reason for the increased costs.
– How do you describe the way MDG has communicated this?
– It is to lead us behind the light and to obscure this.
He believes the city council has not yet received a good explanation of what the cost gap is due to.
– We have not received good enough answers as to what caused the crack. We have only been told that what they have said is not true. Only a fraction is due to TBM.
– Even when we have asked about this, we have not received a good enough overview of what the cost gap is due to.
FRP: – No good explanation
When Nettavisen contacted Frp, which was behind the no-confidence motion against Berg, representative Lars Petter Solås was not aware of how large a share of the budget gap was caused by TBM.
– This strengthens the impression we in the opposition left behind after the hearing in the finance committee. The costs of the project have definitely increased, but no one will come up with a good explanation of what the cause is, he says.
Solås calls for a report from the city council on the details behind the figures, such as how large a share of the increase in each item is due to increased market prices, and how large a share is due to incorrectly calculated analyzes or wrong method choices for the work.
– Both before, during and after the hearing, we in the opposition have asked for the reason for the large cost increase. I can only state that we have not yet received that answer, Solås concludes.
The online newspaper has been in contact with Stian Bjørnøy, who is city council secretary for the environment and transport agency, to get answers to the figures and criticism from the opposition. He says that it is the Water and Sewerage Authority that should answer in this case.
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Confident in their choice
The online newspaper has asked the Water and Sewerage Authority in Oslo how it can be stated categorically that TBM would have given a lower price than traditional blasting of the raw water tunnel.
Agency director Anna Maria Aursund explains that it has not been documented that drilling and blasting would be cheaper than a tunnel boring machine.
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She further refers to the municipality’s cost analysis from February 2021, which concludes that canceling the competition and switching to the other method will have negative consequences.
According to the analysis, it will be at least NOK 175 million more expensive, and have a risk of increased costs. It would also lead to a delay of three years, which means that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s deadline to complete the project by 2028 would not be met.
She adds that there are costs in traditional blasting that are not needed with TBM.
– In the report given by the municipality’s advisor from 2017, only the construction cost was included, and not the client’s costs. Therefore, the cost picture is wrong – because a conventionally blown tunnel entails more follow-up from the client, and this of course has a significance. The third-party assessment from NTNU / Sintef confirmed the conclusions from the vast majority of previous studies, which are in favor of TBM. We are confident in the choice of TBM for the raw water tunnel in the project, comments the director of the agency.
Holte’s quality assurance confirms that the municipality has made the right choice, she explains.
– Norway’s foremost tunnel experts in both conventional drilling and blasting and tunnel drilling have made thorough assessments, with the majority in favor of TBM. We are confident in this choice, which is supported by thorough professional assessments of the driving method and also Holte’s recent quality assurance. The choice of tunnel boring machine as the driving method scores highest on, among other things, working environment / safety, costs, environment and time, she concludes.
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