New lanes and possible portacabins for passport control are some of the measures included in the reconstruction plan for Storskog. Photo illustration: Thomas Nilsen / Jonas Karlsbakk
A brand new border station will be built by 2015, but in order to facilitate for fast control of people over the next few years, intermediate measures will be taken.
A working group headed by the former head of Police in eastern Finnmark, Håkon Skulstad, on Friday presented the short-term action plan.
- Our prognosis indicate it could be around 400,000 border crossings annually already by the year 2014, says Håkon Skulstad to BarentsObserver.
Håkon Skulstad says short-term actions must be taken in order to facilitate for more effective border control as the number of border crossers are expected to peak over the next few years. Photo: Jonas Karlsbakk
The suggestions from the working group include twelve more passport controllers and nine additional customs officers at Storskog, Norway’s only land border crossing to Russia.
One new lane for incoming traffic and one extra lane out of Norway will be constructed. Additional gates for passport control will be built inside the border station and it might also be that portacabins for passport control will be places outdoor for both incoming and outgoing traffic. In peak-hours, passport control could also take place between the vehicles in the lanes.
Border traffic prognosis made by the working group indicates a 300 percent increase in people believed to cross the Norwegian – Russian by the year 2014. Last year 140,000 border crossers showed their passports at Storskog border station, expected to increase to around 400,000 by 2014.
Read also: Border crossings up 36 percent
- There are several reasons why the number of border crossers will increase in the next few years, explains Håkon Skulstad. First of all more of the inhabitants on Russia’s Kola Peninsula gets multiple entry visas, and the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes is becoming a popular shopping destination. Last year Norway and Russia signed an agreement to facilitate for visa-free travel for people living less than 30 kilometres from the border. The visa-free travel will likely be possible in 2012.
Storskog passport control windows before last reconstruction some few years ago. Now, another reconstruction with more windows starts. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
The reconstruction of the border station will divide travellers into different lanes depending on their status. Visa-free border crossers will get their own lanes with far easier control than regular travellers.
Read also: Parliament wants 24h border opening
The border station will also arrange for possible eGates in and out of Norway, where passport and biometric data can be controlled within seconds, making Storskog one of the most modern passport control posts in Europe.
