The construction of the new bus terminal in Katarinaberget, Stockholm, has been delayed time and time again, costing taxpayers billions more than originally promised.
The Sweden Democrats (SD) are highly critical of the left-wing administration’s incompetence, arguing that Stockholm residents have been forced to pay billions for what is now “the world’s most expensive bus stop”.
Samuel Stephan, SD’s transport policy spokesperson in Stockholm, notes in a debate article that the budget for Slussen’s new bus terminal was initially SEK 1.4 billion (€130 million) and should have been completed in 2023. However, it is still not finished, and the cost is now approaching SEK 7 billion (€640 million).
“This terminal, which ironically is a bus stop, has become a monument to the inability to manage large infrastructure projects”, he writes in Dagens industri, noting that “time and again we see how taxpayers’ money is wasted on projects that suffer from huge delays, constant cost overruns and lack of control”.
He points out that construction should never have started due to the complex, expensive, and difficult nature of building the terminal inside Katarinaberget, yet the governing red-green parties refused to heed the criticism.
“One of the biggest reasons for these failures is poor procurement and unclear accountability. Why are projects procured where cost increases are allowed without clear limits? Why is there no effective oversight of the contractors’ work or the internal process?” he asks.
“Change is necessary”
Stephan points out that the bus terminal is just one in a series of construction projects that Stockholm politicians have failed with – and says it seems to be the rule rather than the exception that large construction projects become “budget disasters where taxpayers are the only losers”.
“We have seen the same pattern with the New Karolinska, the Kista branch of the Tvärbanan and the Roslagsbanan extension”, the SD politician notes.
“The left-wing administration likes to appear responsible when it comes to finances, but in Region Stockholm, they have repeatedly proven the opposite. The Slussen bus terminal is now the world’s most expensive bus stop – and another proof that change is necessary” he continues, hoping that voters will abandon the red-green coalition in the next election.
It is now hoped that the bus terminal will be completed sometime in early 2026.
