The four sub-projects included in the Västlänken railway tunnel are Centralen, Kvarnberget, Haga and Korsvägen. When SVT Väst reviews the contracts and goes through all the invoices, it appears that all four projects have now exceeded the agreed costs.
All money spent
The project at Centralen, where tunnels and an underground station are excavated, has consumed the entire contract sum of 4.7 billion up to and including February, when only 41 percent has been excavated.
And then Centralen is the project that keeps the money the best.
The worst in terms of overinvoicing is the Kvarnberget project, which has already cost the Swedish Transport Administration double the contract sum: 1.6 billion for a contract worth 800 million. With only 23 percent excavated.
More than half the job left
And earlier, SVT Väst revealed that Korsvägen was invoiced two billion kroner over the contract. There, 42 percent of the work is now done.
Västlänken is part of the infrastructure initiative Västsvenska packaget, where Jörgen Einarsson is chairman of the management group. He is also the regional director of Trafikverket Väst and has taken part in SVT’s review.
Is there a system error here?
– I don’t know, or I can’t answer that, in that way. Now you are in quite a lot of details that should really be directed to the project, says Jörgen Einarsson.
Lost control of costs
The total contract sum for the four sub-projects is SEK 11.7 billion. Up to and including February, SEK 15 billion has been invoiced to the Swedish Transport Administration. An overbilling of SEK 3.3 billion – in a situation where more than half of the work remains.
If I understood the matter correctly, you do not know how much the Västlänken will cost?
– No.
And also not when it will be ready?
– I cannot say an end date for Västlänken when it is finished, no, says Jörgen Einarsson.
The project at Haga is currently at a standstill waiting for a new contractor, after the previous one was terminated by the Swedish Transport Administration. There, the cost has exceeded the agreed upon by SEK 450 million.