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goods supply and in the housing construction and infrastructure sector dependent upon public
spending.
The Danish centralization policy sparked protests in Greenland, which were largely key to the
establishment of Home Rule in 1979. In the first decade of the home rule, measures to stimulate the
industrial development of the individual settlements included policies and infrastructure
development such as establishing a system of purchase and storage plants, service houses and stores
in a number of settlements. The focus on a decentralized settlement pattern was based on the desire
to exploit local resources locally combined with a more ideologically based intention to take care of
the ‘original Greenlandic culture’ (Bro 1993; Grønlands Statistik 1996 to 2004).
Due to overuse of funds and inadequate financial management, the treasury ended in 1987 in a
significant deficit. And after 1990, the cod disappeared from the seas around Greenland, so most
seafood purchase and storage plants in both cities and settlements went unused (Danielsen 1998).
The combination of deficits in public finances and H