Helsinki's metro extension into the Espoo suburbs is going to be later to open than previously thought. The local transport authority HSL was already advertising the grand opening, due for 15 August, when the Länsimetro firm admitted things are not going to plan.
Helsingin Sanomat reports today that the delays are even worse than thought. Some of the smoke ventilation systems necessary for the stations were ordered too late and have not even arrived yet, meaning the delays could be quite lengthy.
HS reports that the problems only came to light in May, when testing at stations should have begun--but the contractors would have known well before that stage that things were behind schedule.
Part of the problem, according to HS, is that the company responsible for the project only has ten employees and does little of the actual work itself. Instead Länsimetro contracts out the construction to other firms, and the flow of information up the chain--ultimately to the politicians representing Länsimetro's municipal owners--has not gone as it should.
Yle funding reaction
Yesterday saw the publication of a long-awaited report on Yle's remit and funding. The main points are a funding freeze until 2020, an obligation to buy in more services rather than produce them in-house, support for the Finnish news agency STT, and the replacement of a commitment to 'multiculturalism' with one mandating that 'Yle's duty is to support the preservation of the Finnish cultural heritage, tolerance, non-discrimination, equality and cultural diversity'.
That particular point was one pushed by the Finns Party, and Iltalehti reports that the end result saw a split in the party's MPs. Several sent a press release slamming the report as 'wordplay' that wouldn't change anything.
The report didn't cut Yle's budget beyond the funding freeze either, another Finns Party goal. MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, a member of the working group, told IL that it didn't feel good to lose out on that point, but that 'this isn't one man's war'.
Fathers fail to take parental leave
Helsingin Sanomat reports on a Kela study into parental leave that found that despite Finland's generous entitlements, some twenty percent of fathers don't use them at all.
Assuming one parent takes the maximum entitlement to parental leave (usually the mother), the other parent is entitled to nine weeks with an income-based payment from Kela. Three weeks can be taken while the mother is also off work, but six weeks must be taken when the mother is not on maternity leave and before the child turns two.
The trend is for more and more fathers to take some kind of paternity leave, but still 20 percent don't bother. Researchers put the reluctance down to workplace culture, saying it is extremely challenging to try and change attitudes.