Bridge to better business

Europe Business Review, Oct-Dec, 1999

Europe is about to become smaller - Sweden and Denmark, neighbours and occasional enemies, are building a bridge to bring them nearer.

In a move symbolizing how the new Europe is breaking down old divisions, the Danes and Swedes view the occasion as a chance to bury old hatchets and raise mutual economic prospects.

A new 15-kilometre US$2 billion tunnel and bridge connection called the Oresund Fixed Link is being completed that will tie Sweden to the continent of Europe for the first time.

It will create a new trade and marketing centre that will be bigger than Stockholm and equal those of Berlin, Hamburg, Zurich and Amsterdam.

When the four-lane highway and dual-track railway is opened next July, Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, will be only an 11-minute ride from Malmo, Sweden's third-largest city, and a single metropolitan region with a population of 3.2 million people will be created.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Swedes won a series of wars with the Danes. The new link is a chance for Denmark and Sweden to start a new relationship, and this time both seem to be on the winning side.

While the European Union, of which both Denmark and Sweden are members, has broken down trade and currency barriers, it has not been involved in building transport connections like the Oresund link.

There are complementary resources on either side of the Oresund well suited to the region's specialities like pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical research, environmental science and IT.

These enterprises depend on networking, close communication and exchange of knowledge which the bridge will, as a people mover, help considerably.

In 1991, when the time the decision was taken to construct the Oresund link, majorities of both populations were against the idea. Soon they will be cheerfully sharing traffic jams.