The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NDA) project will be tendered as a fixed-price turnkey contract, procured through a competitive negotiation process.
Project manager Terje Skjeppestad said the tender process was expected to take a year. A contract could be signed in autumn next year and construction start around the turn of 2025/2026.
“It is estimated construction will take just under five years, from the signing of the contract to final delivery. However, it is up to the contractor to plan this,” said Skjeppestad.
Bids must fall within the total project budget of NOK5.060bn approved by the Norwegian parliament. If no bids are received within the approved budget, the new budget must be approved by parliament.
Skjeppestad said the tender issue was an important milestone in the project.
“Most of what we have worked on so far has been subprojects and actions leading up to the tender announcement. Since this type of tunnel has never been built before, the technical documentation has been demanding. Additionally, it has involved extensive and time-consuming work on planning processes, land acquisition, reuse of rock masses, and notably, efforts to reduce risk and costs in the project. This takes time, and I would argue that our project team has worked well and effectively since we were tasked with building the Stad ship tunnel in 2021,” said Skjeppestad.
The Stad ship tunnel provide a safe passage through the Stadhavet Sea and will be the world’s first full-scale tunnel for ships. It will be 1.7km long, 50m high and 36m wide.
The tunnel will be built using conventional blasting, and around 3 million m3 of rock will be removed.
In April the Norwegian Coastal Administration appointed Cowi as the technical adviser for the construction of the tunnel.
