The head of Mesta, a Norwegian government infrastructure business, said she wants to see more tunnel rehabilitation work brought forward as the Covid-19 crisis continues.
Marianne Bergmann Røren said there are 55 tunnels that need to be upgraded before 2025 and she urged authorities to give the green light for these projects sooner rather than later.
Her call comes as the company- the largest player in Norway’s road maintenance market – announced it was temporarily laying off 100 employees. The layoffs are due to a standstill in the civil engineering market and problems with the covid-19 quarantine regulation.
Norway’s government has already granted around €63 million for civil engineering work during the coronavirus crisis.
Mesta is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry and has is based at Lysaker, near the capital city Oslo. It was created in 2003 when the construction division of state Statens Vegvesen – the Public Roads Administration – was demerged to become a separate limited company. Metsa must compete for each contract in the open market.
