Before the Norwegian Coastal Administration can issue the tender for the construction of Stad ship tunnel, all regulatory plans related to the ship tunnel must be approved. The Stad City Council could approve the regulatory plans at a council meeting at the end of September.

The project will be tendered  in October as a fixed-price turnkey contract, procured through a competitive negotiation process. The tender process usually takes up to a year. 

First, it will conduct a prequalification phase, which takes about three months. Then, a select group of suppliers will be invited to submit bids, which will be evaluated and negotiated -often in several rounds. This phase will take six to nine months. 

If everything goes as planned, a contract with a contractor could be signed in the fall of 2025, with construction starting around the turn of 2025/2026. The construction of the ship tunnel will take just under five years, from the signing of the contract to final delivery. 

The bid received by the Norwegian Coastal Administration from a turnkey contractor for the construction of the ship tunnel must fall within the total project budget of NOK 5.060 billion, as approved by the Norwegian Parliament. If no bids are received within the approved budget, the new budget must be approved by Parliament. 

Since this type of tunnel has never been built before, the technical documentation—detailing how the ship tunnel will be constructed, including technical installations—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. 

For further information please click here and no/132 for the tunnelbuilder archive and visit https://kystverket.no/en. 37/24.