City Council votes to look into introduction of congestion charges
Energy policy debate rebuffs planned wind farm
The Helsinki City Council voted on Wednesday on the introduction of congestion charges, with 51 council delegates out of 85 voting in favour of the proposal, which had originally been made by the Green League.
The resolution had been anticipated as the Social Democratic Party - the second largest party on the Council - announced already last week that they would support the Greens.
Even the Left Alliance, the Centre Party, and the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) supported the necessity of exploring the introduction of proposed congestion charges.
The largest party on the Council, the National Coalition Party, as well as the Swedish People’s Party (SFP), the Christian Democrats (KD), and the True Finns (PS) all opposed the proposed charges.
It is not known as yet whether or not the potential congestion charges would be collected on the border of the capital only or whether they should cover the Inner and Outer Ring Roads as well.
The general belief among the Helsinki politicians is that congestion charges should be collected even outside Helsinki, in which case at least Vantaa and Espoo should cooperate, and possibly even some of the other surrounding municipalities.
The introduction of congestion charges is included in the proposals of the City’s energy policy report, which was settled at the council meeting.
For example, Helsinki commits to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, as well as to increase the proportion of renewable energy sources to 20 per cent.
The meeting handled as many as 40 counterproposals and proposed amendments.
The Greens suggested for example that Helsinki should start planning an off-shore wind farm. The group did not manage to persuade any other large parties to support the proposal, and it was not approved.
"Wind conditions off Helsinki are considerably weaker than those along the western coast", argued Maija Anttila (SDP), the chair of the City Planning Committee, referring to old wind surveys.
The three large parties in the capital, namely the National Coalition Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Green League, agreed in practice upon the main outlines of the City’s energy policy during their mutual talks already a couple of weeks ago.
At that point, the issue of the use of congestion charges remained the only unsettled matter on the agenda.
The Left Alliance has expressed disapproval of this kind of closed-session decision-making, claiming that it was not democratic.
Previously in HS International Edition:
Helsinki to study introduction of congestion charge (25.1.2008)
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 31.1.2008 - TODAY |
City Council votes to look into introduction of congestion charges
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