The construction of the memorial site on Utøykaia will start early on Monday. It will be ready for the tenth anniversary of July 22nd, but the neighbors can put an end to that.
The debate about a memorial site after the terrorist incidents has been going on for several years, but in the morning hours on Monday the construction work on Utøykaia will begin.
“There will be no major things happening. We have meetings with Skanska, and they will drive in some machines and clear some forest,” says Communications Director Hege Njaa Aschim at Statsbygg to NTB.
Like landowner AUF, Statsbygg has been clear that a halt in construction work means that the site will hardly be ready for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that cost 77 lives in the Government Quarter and on Utøya on July 22nd 2011.
Neighbors want to stop it
Three weeks ago, the Utøya neighbors requested a temporary injunction against the state and AUF to postpone the start of construction or any continuation of the work.
Despite the conflict, Statsbygg does not fear that the neighbors or others will initiate measures to prevent Monday’s construction start.
“We have now reached the stage where we will implement the decisions that have been made after lengthy processes with many opportunities for participation,” says the communications director.
The memorial site will include 77 bronze pillars – one for each of the 77 people killed in the Government Quarter and on Utøya.
Trial pending
The neighbors have also submitted a summons that the memorial should not be built. They believe that the decision on the construction of the memorial site is in violation of the tolerance limit in the Neighbor Act (naboloven), which AUF and the state reject.
It is Ringerike District Court that will process the lawsuit from the Utøya neighbors. It is uncertain when that will happen. AUF and the state believe that the petition for an interim injunction should be processed at the same time as the main claim.
The memorial was originally supposed to be located at Sørbråten, close to Utøya, but the proposal was withdrawn in 2017. Before that, 29 neighbors had filed lawsuits against the state to stop the establishment of that memorial.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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