Hammer Time

By Sami J. Anteroinen
Editor-in-Chief

This article was published on NORDICUM 1/2009

The current economic crisis has a paralysing effect on business around the world. In a situation such as this, level-headed decision-making is required from the political powers-that-be. The Finnish Government has ruled the land rather wisely when the times were good, and, as a reward, finds itself in a relatively stable position now that the storm clouds come rolling by. In order to ride out the bad weather ahead, the Government wants to revitalise the economy with a flurry of investments. This means that the construction business − now struggling on the ropes − will get its chance to go the distance.

Naturally, one key target for construction effort is logistics. The Finnish road network is in a sorry state, with direly needed upgrades being on hold. The soaring construction costs over the years have meant that bridges and roads have been low priority for a long time. Ironically then, what is bad for the economy, is good for the public infrastructure.

Threatened by a predicted 14 per cent drop in the employment situation of the infra sector, the Ministry of Transport and Communications wasted no time to put together an emergency package with a price tag of 170 million. The Ministry already had a good handle on the subject, since the first-ever national traffic policy report addressed these very issues already last year. The Ministry’s first-aid kit features about 100 projects which are ready to be launched.

The State budget for 2009 has reserved one billion euros for taking care of the basic logistics network. At present, there are already 14 public projects underway, with record-breaking € 1.8 billion allocated for their realisation. By the end of 2009, four of these projects should be completed. Waiting in the wings, there are additional 16 projects to be realised during this administration.

While the traffic concerns are decidedly long-term, it is good to see that the Government is looking beyond the present term of office as well. To kick off the year, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen came out with an ambitious investment vision for the next decade. Vanhanen wants to raise new projects to the tune of dozens of billions of euros, with infrastructure issues in the forefront.

Vanhanen’s vision still needs a lot of flesh on the bones (and, probably, the bones). But the direction is clear − and right on the money.