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Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 10:59 PM
Dblcut3 Dblcut3 is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2017
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New Qaqortoq Airport and Road:

Currently the only airport serving the Kujalleq municipality is located in Narsarsuaq, a small village. A new airport is being built in Qaqortoq, the largest city in Southern Greenland, which has a population of over 3000. The only way to get there at the moment is by helicopter. Because of this inconvenience, Qaqortoq was one of several locations selected for new airports to be built all across Greenland. In order to get to the new airport site from the city, a 6.5km road is being built. The road will be extended to the small farming settlement of Nuupiluk in a future phase. From Nuupiluk, a ferry line will be established to transport passengers to and from Narsaq, a city with 1500+ people. It will be the first road between two towns in Greenland's history.

A map of the road and airport location:


The runway will be 1500 meters, but it will have the capability to be extended to 1800 meters in the future. Greenlandic officials hope that this will give the region a massive boost in tourism as well as providing infrastructural support for the growing mining industry. In addition to the several other new airports being built (I will cover these later), this project will help Greenland progress towards independence and self-sustainability.

A rendering of the airport:


Qaqortoq Entreprenørforretning Aps, a local construction firm, has almost completed the road. They hope to begin work on the airport itself soon.

A construction photo of the road from October 2016:


The airport's master plan:


I am hopeful that this project will greatly benefit southern Greenland. Qaqortoq is currently losing a lot of population due to young people moving to either Nuuk or Denmark for careers and education. Having an airport in Qaqortoq will help the area's tourism and mining economies to expand greatly. Plus, having a road/ferry to Narsaq will help the whole region become more connected. Municipality officials hope to eventually build a road from Qaqortoq to the farming settlement of Igaliku and the town of Allutisup Paa. If that project moves forward, the growing agricultural sector in Southern Greenland will expand even more. Currently, only rough dirt/gravel roads connect the many farms together, and this network only connects to small villages, not any towns or cities.

A view of Qaqortoq, the "Greenlandic Riviera:"
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