Greenland’s Sisimiut seeks tax hike to enlarge port

Count the ships competing for space in Sisimiut’s harbour. Overcrowding of the harbour on the central western coast of Greenland has prompted the municipal council to seek a big tax increase to pay for a larger harbour facility. (PHOTO HANDOUT FROM THE QEQQETA MUNICIPALITY)

Marine traffic jams in Sisimiut, Greenland have prompted its municipal officials to call for the construction of larger port facilities — even if it means a big tax hike.

“With the current conditions in Sisimiut’s harbour, trawlers, commercial ships, cruise liners and oil supply ships cannot fit in the harbour,” Hermann Berthelsen, the mayor of the Qeqqata municipality, said this week.

Sisimiut, which has a population of about 5,500, is located on the central-western coast of Greenland. Its harbour is the most northerly year-round ice-free port in Greenland.

The Qeqqata municipal council will consider a plan to enlarge the port at its Oct. 28 meeting.

That proposal would see municipal taxes increase up to 26 per cent.

Sisimiut’s finance committee would like to see the port built in 2012 and 2013, so it can be ready for oil drilling activity during the summer of 2013, Bertelsen said in a statement posted on the website of Sermitsiaq/AG.

“Whether or not there is any oil exploration in 2013 or not, it is essential to expand the port,” Bertelsen said. “With the current conditions in Sisimiut harbor, trawlers, cargo ships, cruise liners and oil tankers cannot fit into the port, so they look to other ports at home and abroad.”

When the big ships opt out of a port call in Sisimiut, that results in more unemployment, Bertelsen said.

“My hope is that with the [port] enlargement we can get more people to work and reduce our costs of social benefits, public assistance and rising taxes. And hopefully the municipal tax increase will be short-lived,” he said.