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"The Sunndal project lives up to all expectations"
(Nov. 5, 2004) "Not only have we reached the target three months ahead of schedule and NOK 150 million below budget, the project has also been executed with few accidents and injuries," said President and CEO Eivind Reiten at a press conference at Sunndal on Thursday.
 PROUD: President and CEO Eivind Reiten is proud to lead a company that time and time again delivers large, complex projects within the agreed price. (Photo: Gisle Nomme) |
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Reiten confirmed that the project Sunndal 4 has been highly successful.
"This is a great and joyous day, both for Hydro and for Sunndal. The decision to implement the project, which was taken in 2001, was based on a number of considerations. It would cost around six billion kroner, and a solid basis was needed for such an investment, both in relation to costs and market and price developments.
"We now see that all the conditions have been met. The plant is completed ahead of time. It has cost less and already produces more than planned. Meanwhile the market is in a strong upturn; Europe needs to import more and more aluminium, and prices are good. We have no problem selling the plant's annual production of 360,000 tonnes. In short: the financial requirements are more than fulfilled," said Reiten.
Expertise in large scale projects
He also expressed his pride in leading a company that time and time again delivers large, complex projects within schedule and budget, and even earlier and cheaper than planned.
"This reflects a very high level of expertise among our employees. And now that we have finished here, we can move on to Hydro's next major project, Ormen Lange, without in fact needing to move out of the county," said Reiten.
 While they studied the model of the metal plant, Tore Killingland (left) from Friends of the Earth Norway and Anton Harthun Husøy, the client's representative in Hydro for the Sunndal 4 project, discuss the environmental aspects of the development. (Photo: Gisle Nomme) |
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Environmental acclaim
He highlighted the environmental aspects as an important part of the project. Not only has this project had a very good HSE performance, it has also incorporated the best technology, in that the Søderberg electrolysis process has been removed, along with the detrimental PAH emissions this caused.
At this point, Tore Killingland, secretary general in Friends of the Earth Norway, congratulated Hydro on this particular aspect of the project.
"We have scrutinized the international aluminium industry and have not found a metal plant with lower emissions than this one. Hydro has also put a lot of effort and money into raising environmental awareness and attitudes among its employees. We congratulate you on this," said Killingland.
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