Chairperson of the Parliament’s Transport and Communications Committee, Jouni Ovaska, is calling for the government to suspend the West Railway project following the rejection of 176 million euros in EU funding by the European Commission. Ovaska stated, “The facts speak for suspending the project. If the government doesn’t trust us in the opposition, hopefully it trusts the EU.” Minister of Transport and Communications, Lulu Ranne, also expressed reservations about the project due to a poor cost-to-benefit ratio.
The completion of the project depends largely on the commitment of municipal stakeholders like Turku, Espoo, and others. Despite the setback, the CEO of West Railway, Pekka Ovaskainen, remains determined, stating that the project will continue to pursue funding opportunities in the future.
While the European Commission did not grant funding for the West Railway, they did provide funding for 11 other transport infrastructure projects across the EU. The government and municipal stakeholders had agreed to split the project costs, with funding totaling 800 million euros.
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