ANINGAAQ R. CARLSEN/VISIT GREENLAND, 2021
Qeqqata Kommunia is located between 64ºN and 67ºN, with the main town of Sisimiut located slightly north of the Arctic Circle. The area of the municipality is 115.500 km². From 66º and north on the west coast, sled dog keeping is allowed.
The municipality has a total of just under 10,000 inhabitants with Maniitsoq as the second town and a total of six settlements, of which Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord) is the largest.
Kangerlussuaq is Greenland’s most used international airport. It is located close to the ice sheet, 130 km east of Sisimiut.
Roughly in the middle of the north side of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord is an anorthosite mine operated by Hudson Greenland A/S. The mine was officially inaugurated at the end of 2019, but due to COVID-19, production has not really started. During production, approximately 60 employees are expected.
Since its establishment in 2009, the municipality has been led by Siumut, and in the most recent elections in 2021, the incumbent mayor was reelected. Strengthening of social policy, promoting business development, tourism, health and prevention, and in particular education with a focus on primary education and young people outside the labour market are the key priorities of the municipality.
A large UNESCO World Heritage Site has been designated, Aasivissuit – Nipisat, covering a 20 km wide area of land, which extends 220 km from the ice sheet north of Kangerlussuaq Airport and beyond Sisimiut, but does not include the town itself. There are popular hiking routes between Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq, and there are ongoing discussions about connecting the two with a road. Recently, ATV trails were established, which will soon be ready for use.
A road link would extend the existing road network around Kangerlussuaq that was established by the Americans, and in 1999, it was extended all the way up to the ice sheet by Volkswagen (VW) in connection with test drives on the ice sheet. That would be the first a long road link to be established in Greenland. It will link the country’s second-largest town with an international airport, bringing with it major development potentials in terms of tourism and exports of superfresh fish.
