The Swedish government wants to invest about $80 billion in improved roads, railways, tunnels and other infrastructure projects, Minister for Infrastructure Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd announced this week.
About $13 billion will be spent on railways and another $24 billion will be spent on the operation and national road maintenance, she said.
"We are focusing on jobs, commuting and freight routes. The government should focus on what leads to jobs and competitiveness," Elmsäter-Svärd told Swedish Radio News.
The announcement will also mean new lines for high-speed trains, subway expansions and improvements on the E20 highway, which runs from the Öresund Bridge in Malmö, Sweden's third most populous city, to the town of Nääs, about 18.5 miles east of Gothenburg.
The government will also be investing in bike paths, the minister said in her announcement, issued on Tuesday.
The opposition Green Party was critical of the announcement and said that more money should have been spent on public transportation instead of on roads.
"[The plan] is very climate unfriendly. It would have been much, much more strategic to invest in public transportation, subway and rail systems," Åsa Romson, a co-party spokesperson, told Swedish news agency TT.
This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.
This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.