As is the practice in Demark, the German regulatory approval process for the Fehmarnbelt project is conducted in full transparency and dialogue with all stakeholders. One result of this is that all documents in the 11,000-page application were published on a project website six months ago.

Claus F. Baunkjær, CEO of Femern A/S, said: “This is an important event for Europe’s largest infrastructure project and I am pleased that we can now present our application for approval to the public in Germany.”

Femern A/S has been operating information centres in Rødbyhavn on Lolland and in Burg on Fehmarn (respectively, the Danish and German sides of the link) since 2009. The latter alone has received over 5,000 visitors. The company has also held a series of meetings with the public, businesses and organisations in northern Germany over the same period.

“We have reached another important milestone thanks to the close dialogue with our partners in Germany, not least the state government of Schleswig-Holstein, which has a strong commitment to our joint project.” said Claus F. Baunkjær.

Extensive and detailed studies of the environment, technology and safety over the past four years underpin the commitment to transparency and availability of information. Environmental research on land, and in the Fehmarnbelt itself, as well as associated geotechnical investigations have built a solid foundation for the project.

The documents in the application will be made widely available for one month in Burg on Fehmarn, Kiel and several other places in East Holstein. The public and other interested parties can study them and submit suggestions and objections. After this, the local planning authority, LBV Kiel, will hold meetings with stakeholders, consider appeals and make a final decision on approving the plans.

“The approval process for our complex, cross-border tunnel project is now in the final phase. In March 2014 we submitted the completed application to the German traffic authorities (LBV Kiel) responsible for carrying out the approval process.” said Claus F. Baunkjær.

Femern A/S anticipates that the German authorities’ approval and the Danish Construction Act will be ready in time for it to sign contracts with the successful bidding consortia in the summer of 2015. Construction of the Fehmarnbelt fixed link, the tunnel and related infrastructure, will begin immediately after and is scheduled for completion in 2021.