GAINING COMPETENCE
EUROPE
Odense tram project is already attracting developers to the city . “ We can see already that a lot of developers are attracted to Odense , even developers we haven ’ t seen in the city before ,” Hagelskær comments .
“ There ’ s actually new money coming into the city here , and what we see from other projects is that a tramway is a generator for growth – there will be urban development . Not only the ones that we had planned for already , but also new ones that we wouldn ’ t have seen coming before . It means that the municipality must treat the tramway as strategic to their overall planning .”
It is hoped that investment will flow into Odense with new businesses developing along the route of the tram . In 2010 , a modern tram line opened in Bergen , Norway , and Odense Letbane uses this project as a point of comparison . “ At this point of time in the project , there were approximately DKK 17bn [$ 2.6bn ] invested near to the tramway tracks and that is similar to us here in Denmark . We have approximately DKK 15bn [$ 2.3bn ] in investment within a 400m radius of the tramway right now ,” remarks Hagelskær . “ The challenges that we are facing is that an
“ THERE ’ S ACTUALLY NEW MONEY COMING INTO THE CITY HERE , AND WHAT WE SEE FROM OTHER PROJECTS IS THAT A TRAMWAY IS A GENERATOR FOR GROWTH , THERE WILL BE URBAN DEVELOPMENT ”
– Mogens Hagelskær , CEO
urban tramway as we ’ re building in Odense , there are very few people in Denmark with experience of building a tram like that .”
GAINING COMPETENCE
This lack of experience of building tramways in Denmark has certainly been a challenge for Odense , although neighbouring countries have been sources of inspiration . “ Building a tramway in the city centre , that is something new in Denmark ,” Hagelskær comments . “ We haven ’ t seen that from past history , so the capacity of the competence is very high for us to gain . We do of course get a lot of inspiration from how they ’ ve
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