The giant project Sotrasambandet, which was supposed to open next summer to solve years-long traffic jams between Øygarden and Bergen, has had its opening postponed indefinitely after an announcement by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration following New Year. One of Norway's largest transport projects has ended up in a rare power struggle, with the relationship with the giant contractor completely deadlocked. The project, being built through a so-called OPS contract (public-private partnership), includes 9.4 km of motorway, tunnels, and bridge on highway 555 between Sotra and Bergen at a price of 23.1 billion kroner, though it became known in March 2026 that the contractor is heading towards a deficit.
Top executives of three global giant companies—Webuild, FCC, and SK Ecoplant—sounded the alarm in a startling letter sent directly to Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård on February 24. In the letter, they describe a totally wrecked collaboration with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, stating that the project is reported to be nearly 150 days behind schedule. They also warn of a gap of 5 billion kroner between what the work actually costs and what the Norwegian Public Roads Administration is willing to pay. The foreign contractors in Sotra Link Construction claim the project is in an economic disaster with a loss of 5 billion kroner. In the letter, top executives write that they have done what is possible to avoid deadlocked situations, but that they are now 'desperately' looking for a solution. They state that they are in 'a disaster with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration on the project'. 'The degree of seriousness in a project of this size has led to escalation to the top management of the involved companies, and managing directors now request a meeting with the transport minister,' it says in the letter.
Before the top executives sent their own crisis call, the embassies of Spain, Italy, and South Korea had contacted the Norwegian government to arrange a crisis meeting about the billion-kroner gap. The initiative was a joint, coordinated attempt to put Norway's largest road project on the political agenda. The Ministry of Transport's response thanks for the engagement but makes it crystal clear that the government will not interfere in the daily management of a single project. The Ministry of Transport's response letter asks for an agenda to '... understand which issues or topics the three embassies wish to put on the agenda ...' The day after the embassies received this response, the top executives of the three global companies went directly to the transport minister.
Just as the developers demand political assistance, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration warns that they will financially penalize the contract partner Sotra Link As after findings of breaches of working hours and rest time. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has identified two clear legal breaches: Several workers have received too low wages, and illegal overtime with too little sleep and rest has been uncovered. Papers show that some have worked up to 62 hours of overtime in four weeks, while the Working Environment Act allows a maximum of 25 hours of overtime in four weeks. In one case, a worker had only 12.5 hours of continuous free time during a week, whereas according to the Working Environment Act, employees are entitled to a continuous free period of at least 35 hours within seven days. The findings are a result of a comprehensive control of wage and working conditions among several subcontractors at the site. Initially, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration reacted strongly because large amounts of hours were missing from the work lists of a subcontractor. Sotra Link AS explained that the extra hours were deducted and moved to an unofficial 'flex account' for the workers to take time off later. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration called the practice directly 'alarming' and pointed out that it is a 'particularly serious deviation' when the client does not get to see the real hours. Sotra Link defended itself by stating that it is initially the subcontractor themselves who are responsible for following the law in their own operations. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration flatly rejected this defense, since Sotra Link has the main contract and thus full responsibility towards the state, regardless of who performs the work. 'Your statement therefore in our opinion testifies to a lack of understanding and insight into fundamental responsibility relationships related to work for a public client,' wrote the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in the report. After receiving new documents, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration no longer suspects that the companies kept a conscious 'shadow accounting' to cheat the workers. Instead, the client now considers the failures to be more unconscious and sporadic. The serious findings now result in financial penalties. Project leader Lene Sælen Rivenes stated, 'We take contract breaches very seriously, and are now calculating what the total penalty will be.' She added, 'The reason we used such strong words in the first control is that it looked worse than it needed to be before we received additional information.'
The giant project has long been plagued by problems, conflicts, and deviations. The current status of the requested meeting between the top executives and Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård is unknown.