The sales process. During 2000, to attract potential buyers, the NDEA had put several advertisements in Norwegian newspapers in which the possible uses of parts of Lista air base were listed. According to the Norwegian authorities, the advertisements were published in Xxxxxxx Xxxx, which is a local newspaper, Fedrelandsvennen and Stavanger Aftenblad, both of which are regional newspapers. According to the Norwegian authorities, an en bloc sale of Lista air base was not advertised at this stage. On 16-17 August 2001, the NDEA hosted the ‘Lista conference’ to which 7 000-8 000 potential investors were invited. 180 participants attended the conference. The objective of the conference was to present Lista air base to potential buyers. On the agenda was the transformation of the air base from military to civilian commercial use. Further to the conference, the Norwegian authorities engaged Xx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx, a Swedish consultant, to assist them with the sale process. The Norwegian authorities have indicated that Xx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx had concluded that the possibilities of considering Lista air base as an invest- ment object were limited due to the ten year lease agreement in which LILAS had been granted a privileged position. In August 2001, the NDEA decided that the air base should be sold en bloc. Several reports were requested in order to assess the condition of the air base, including a report regarding fire-technical status, possible need to decontaminate the land and the necessity to improve the land drainage system. The Norwegian authorities only provided the NDEA with a fire safety report dated 24 January 2002 in which a consultancy, TekØk, estimated that the necessary fire safety upgrades required to meet the applicable standard, amounted to NOK 14 596 800. In the beginning of 2002, sales negotiations were initiated with the real estate developers Intervest Eiendom AS and Interconsult Prosjektutvikling AS, following an initiative from the Municipa- lity of Farsund. As part of the negotiations with the two companies mentioned here above, the NDEA ordered two value assessments by the real estate value assessors Verditakst and OPAK (2). NOK 4 500 000. (2) The conclusions of which are mentioned below in section 2.5. For the years 2002-2004, the Parliament gave the Ministry of Defence, according to Section 2.1(1) of the Regulation on Alie- nation (hereinafter the ‘Regulation’), the authority to alienate redundant property, buildings and installations used by the Armed Forces at m...
