Helsinki city council’s political leaders want to accelerate studies of the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel project, to avoid the transformation of the country to the economic outskirts. The council’s major political groups are afraid, that when studies do not move forward quickly there is a danger that the whole plan will be postponed, as provided by the Finnish national broadcaster Yle.
“Just in a poor economic situation, such investments would give us a better growth outlook. The tunnel would bring us closer to Europe, improve transport links and benefit the economy,” said the head of the Green fraction, Emma Kari. Accelerated actions require also other fractions of the city government.
So far, the plan is driven by the City of Helsinki, now would be the time the State of Finland to participate seriously, said Emma Kari. Socialist group’s leader Osku Pajamäki noted that the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel is a more cost-effective than the plan of the city of Helsinki to connect two sections of the city with a tunnel. “From the prospective of the citizens’ the costs of the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel seem low compared to this,” he said.
Finantsakadeemia Ltd together with the SWECO Group performed the pre-feasibility study of the Tallinn-Helsinki line in the second half of 2014 and beginning of 2015. According to a preliminary study of the tunnel would cost 9-13 billion euros.