Northern Sweden’s Kiiruna was once born around an iron mine. Now the mining company LKAB is building a new core center for the city with billions. The huge relocation project is looking for its equal all over the world.
15:45•Updated 20:08
The new city center of Kiiruna, Sweden’s northernmost municipality, with its business blocks, was officially opened on Thursday afternoon.
The stores that moved to the new inner city opened their doors at the same time, and at the same time the three-day opening celebrations and events started.
The new core center, built due to the expansion of the mining company LKAB’s iron ore mine, is located in the Tuolluvaara area, about three kilometers east of the former central drive.
Dozens of companies have moved to the new center and hundreds of apartments are already under construction.
– Spaces for 36 trade and service companies have now been built in the new center. In addition to the shopping galleries, almost 300 apartments are being completed on the upper floors, which the residents will be able to move into early next year, says the project manager fairy tale Koivuniemi, who has been working on the relocation project at LKAB for the past 2.5 years.
The city’s transformation work began in 2004, when LKAB officially informed the city of Kiiruna that the city center must be moved out of the way of the expanding underground iron mine.
See how the people of Kiruna received the change:
“Nya Kiruna” is a significant milestone
In the mining town, which is the target of a huge relocation operation, the birth of the new core center is spectacularly celebrated for three whole days. Everyone from Kiruna is welcome to participate in the festivities. The mining company offers events such as concerts by top Swedish performers for free.
Uusi Kiruna, Nya Kiruna has reached one stage in the transformation, which can rightly be considered one of the most significant in modern community building.
– This has never been seen before, that a modern city center with all its functions is moved to a completely new location. A lot of work has been done and a lot is still to come, says Satu Koivuniemi.
In addition to Kiruna, the relocation of the city will also take place in the neighboring city of Jällivaara, where the two centers of the city will be connected. What makes Kiruna’s change big is that the entire downtown area is being rebuilt.
The old center will disappear and the new one will be completed by 2035
The new inner city of Kiiruna already includes, among other things, the new city hall, the Aurora cultural center, the Scandic hotel, a new swimming hall, a police station and the now opened shopping blocks.
According to Satu Koivuniemi, several dozen new apartments have already been completed and more are being made move-in ready all the time.
– Even at the moment, there are about a thousand apartments under construction, which are being completed at different rates.
By 2035, a total of around 6,000 residents will move away from the mining industry, 3,000 new apartments will be needed to replace the old ones. 450,000 square meters of public and commercial real estate will be demolished or moved to a new location.
The project also includes moving buildings of cultural and historical value. There are 39 cultural buildings to be moved in total, of which 14 have already been placed in a new location in different parts of Kiruna.
The move costs billions
So far, the relocation project with construction has cost LKAB more than 18 billion kroner, or about 1.7 billion euros. In addition, the company has budgeted a billion euros for the project this year.
According to the company, it is still difficult to estimate the final price tag of the modifications at this stage. However, the lack of money will hardly stop the project even beyond that.
LKAB has achieved a strong result this year as well and is currently preparing a factory investment of tens of billions of euros in Jällivaara in order to make its production emission-free.
The city of Kiruna’s coffers are also heavily taxed by the move. The city’s account includes, among other things, the construction of infrastructure in new areas.
The turmoil in the city divides opinion
– Of course, this gets people talking a lot. Some of the townspeople are very excited when a new building is built. There are also a lot of people who think it’s a shame when the old is destroyed, says project manager Satu Koivuniemi.
Although both the mining company and the city have received criticism for their actions, the participation and consultation of the townspeople has been noted positively. A large number of Kiruna residents feel that their opinions have been important.
Along with the buildings that are important to the citizens of the old town, they also wanted to move meaningful memories. Understanding has been at the core, for example, when it was decided to move the barrack-like car grill Empes to a new city. The building has no monetary value, but it has been an important meeting place for the people of Kiruna for ages.
LKAB has estimated that there is enough iron ore to be mined well into the future, at least until 2060. The world’s largest underground iron mine brings work to thousands of people in Kiruna with a population of 23,000, which would not exist without the mine.
– Moving is certainly a painful thing for many, but of course people understand why all this has to be done, Satu Koivuniemi states.
What thoughts does the Swedish giant project evoke? You can participate in the discussion with Tunnus 2.9. until 11 p.m.
A video was added to the story at 20:08, where the people of Kiruna comment on the change.