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Change Your Life! |
Denmark & Sweden to be linked after 7,000 years' separation |
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July 2, 2000
COPENHAGEN, (AP) - The kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark were to be formally linked Saturday, 7,000 years after glaciers cleaved a waterway that divided the Scandinavian countries.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark and Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf were to inaugurate a 15-kilometer (9.5-mile) bridge-and-tunnel connection in a three-hour ceremony before it officially opens for motorized traffic just before midnight.
The 29-billion kroner (dlrs 3.7 billion) project, which includes an artificial island, will carry vehicles and trains across the Oresund strait between the Danish capital of Copenhagen and Malmoe, Sweden's third-largest city.
Officials hope the span eventually will boost trade, research and culture by joining 3.2 million regional inhabitants and by luring more regional headquarters of global companies.
Scania, Sweden's southernmost province and home to Malmoe, was part of the kingdom of Denmark for 800 years until 1658, when Swedes invaded it.
"Tomorrow, we will have new old friends," Copenhagen Lord Mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen said on the eve of the opening ceremony.
The number of daily travelers is expected to quintuple to 10,000 in a few years from the total now taking the ferry.
Vehicles will be the first to cross after the ceremony including the figurehead monarchs and Prime Ministers Goeran Persson of Sweden and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen of Denmark. Trains will start service Sunday morning.
Danes and Swedes have high hopes for the area - long disconnected by time-consuming ferry crossings and scarce trade.
The connection comprises a two-level bridge starting in Malmoe, an artificial island in mid-strait and an underwater tunnel that lands south of Copenhagen, near the international airport. Motorists can cross the sound in about 20 minutes; ferry crossings now take up to an hour, plus loading and unloading.
Hurdles remain, though. Tolls are expensive - up to 230 kroner (dlrs 33) for a one-way car trip. Railroad officials have warned of delays. And Swedish customs officials are worried about an increase in smuggling as it becomes easier to bypass their country's strict and expensive alcohol and tobacco laws.
But billions of dollars have been invested in developing a single business zone that regional officials are touting as potential competition for European hubs like Berlin and Frankfurt.
The 21,000-square-kilometer (8,400-square-mile) area will be ranked eighth in terms of gross domestic product as compared with European cities. Also, dozens of cross-strait networks and partnerships have already sprouted since construction began in 1995. |