The news was presented at a press conference on Wednesday in Andøya. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Bjornar Skieran (AFP) and the Minister of Defense, Björn Arild Gramm (SP), participated there.
Watch the full press conference here:
The whale exists
When ministers met the press, 72 per cent of the funding was earmarked for The Whale. What was missing was government support worth NOK 74 million.
Now the government is planning to establish a knowledge and expertise center in Andoya.
However, not all 74 million will be included in the 2024 state budget. The money will be distributed among several state budgets.
However, this ensures further progress on the project, which has a total budget of NOK 455 million.
– If the state makes a binding announcement now, construction of The Whale would begin next year, and the new national attraction could be completed by the 2026 summer season. Bladet Vesterålen recently received information from sources at The Whale.
Watch the video interview with the ministers:
Defensive investment
Bjørnar Skjæran and Bjørn Arild Gram had more news with them when they visited Andøya.
In addition to Whale, the Ap- and Sp-government continues to focus on Andøy as a defensive municipality.
In next year’s state budget, there will be more money, among other things, to maintain and strengthen the capacity to receive allies at Andoya Air Station. This therefore equates to NOK 310 million.
At the press conference in Andoi on Wednesday, it was also announced that there will be more investment in outer space, which has become a separate field in the Norwegian Armed Forces, on par with land, sea, air and cyber.
The government will also allocate NOK 150 million to invest in military space in Andoya – and then another NOK 150 million in the following years.
Here, Andøya and the new spaceport at Børvågen play an important role – both for Norway itself and for its allies.
As previously reported by Bladet Vesterålen, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon will officially open the spaceport on Thursday 2 November this year.
– Great for Norway
– This is simply good and wonderful news for tourism in the whole of Norway, said the head of the Nordland County Council, Elin Dalsing Ede, about the whale project in a press release on Wednesday.
– Nordland County Council has been working for a long time on creating the whale. Early in 2021, the county council allocated 55 million to the museum and experience center in Andenes. After that, both the municipality and private companies put money on the table, the report continues.
We have worked a lot with the current and previous governments to obtain government support for the whale. It is gratifying that we now have a government that believes in whales. Subsequently, the project will be transformed from mere words on a piece of paper to eventually becoming the impressive experience center that was envisioned from the beginning, says Deputy Chairman of the County Council, Sven-Owen Eijsvik.
– As Norway was developing its own identity in the 19th century, it was the agricultural culture of eastern Norway that became central in cultural history museums. This has rendered the important coastal culture of northern Norway and western Norway invisible, which has been strongly criticized in recent decades. The chairman of the county council says the investment in The Whale is a step on the way to making the whole Norwegian culture visible, not just the internal culture.
– That we now have both the Skrei in Lofoten and The Whale in Vesterålen is very important for understanding Norway as a nation. The whale will be a signal building in the spring stones of the Andean Lighthouse. It will showcase Norway’s coastal culture in a very beautiful and amazing way, concludes Dahlsing Ede.
Vesterålen magazine will be back with more.
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