Norway wants all new buildings to have a bomb shelter

12 January 04:28

The Norwegian authorities intend to oblige developers to provide bomb shelters in new buildings. This is done as part of a campaign to increase the resilience of civil society to crises, which has become important after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This was reported by Bloomberg, according to Komersant ukrainskyi.

In view of such plans, the government in Oslo is seeking to overturn a 1998 legislative decision that suspended compliance with such a requirement, and since then no new bomb shelters have been built in the Scandinavian country.

These plans of the authorities are enshrined in the White Paper on “full preparedness” that was recently published.

“It is unjustified to keep the 1998 decision in the current security policy situation,” the report says.

Existing bomb shelters cover about 45% of Norway’s population, which is not enough compared to its neighbors: in Finland, the population coverage rate is about 90%, in Denmark – 80%, in Sweden – 70%.

Norway’s efforts reflect a broader trend in the region, where countries are taking steps to prepare for potential crises-not just military, but also natural disasters and cyberattacks-by, among other things, stockpiling emergency supplies and making their financial systems more resilient.

While Norway has already tightened legislation on foreign investment in strategic industries, the White Paper also suggests further measures “in the context of regulatory developments in the European Union.”

Василевич Сергій
Editor