Copenhagen is moving forward with an ambitious plan to expand the city onto a new island it wants to build, using landfill from major construction projects, creating a new neighborhood with affordable housing and waterfront views.
The plan, announced last Friday by the prime minister and the lord mayor of Copenhagen, would create an island to be called Lynetteholmen, just north of an existing landfill neighborhood, Refshaleoen, with about 35,000 residents and about the same number of jobs, with 25% of the 20,000 homes to be affordable.
Construction of the island would start by 2021 if approved, using debris and earth from construction of a ring road east of the city, a new harbor tunnel, and planned metro extensions. The first houses would be built around 2035, with completion set for around 2070.
Officials say the project will not require any tax money toward the estimated cost of about €2.7 billion. They plan to finance it from use of various new transport links (read tolls) and from sale of the newly created land. That would also fund a metro extension to connect Lynetteholmen with the rest of the city.
