Construction crews preparing the grounds for a new housing project at Ganddal in Sandnes, western Norway, suddenly dug up a large German bunker from World War II this week. The bunker now threatens to delay the entire project.
“The bunker is lying where the road and sewer pipes were supposed to be,” project leader Geir Vigre of the construction firm Team Bygg told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
The firm plans to build three single-family homes and 11 row houses at the site that eventually is supposed to be home to 25 residential units. Work on the project began a few months ago and some of the foundations have already been poured.
On Tuesday evening work came to a halt, after the surprise discovery of the bunker that’s around 50 square meters in size. County conservators called in to examine the bunker said it’s part of a larger defense structure called Atlanterhavsvollen that was built by German forces that occupied Norway from 1940-1945.
One local expert on wartime sites, Jan Windsholt, told NRK that he believes the bunker served as a military headquarters in the area and that “we have a certain responsibility to take care of the most important remains” from the war. Conservator Jan Auestad, however, said the area has been approved for homebuilding and that the bunker can simply be documented before it’s destroyed to make room for the roads and pipes. It’s not the only wartime remains in Ganddal, he said.
newsinenglish.no staff
