Finnfund participates in a wastewater treatment project in the Baltic Sea area
31/03/2003
St. Petersburg Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant Project will have a major positive ecological impact on the Baltic Sea.
Finnfund signed a loan agreement of EUR 4 million on 20 March 2003 in St. Petersburg with Nordvod. St. Petersburg Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant Project will have a major positive ecological impact on the Baltic Sea. The building works will start now and the plant will be completed within three years.
Mr. Hans Mideus (Swedfund) and Ms. Paula Sundberg (Finnfund) participated in the signing ceremonies in St. Petersburg
The project is established as a private public partnership (PPP) company. Nordvod, which is in charge of the project implementation, is owned by a Nordic construction consortium (YIT, Skanska and NCC), Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and the water company Vodokanal of St. Petersburg.
The project is part of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership programme (NDEP). The costs of the project will be covered by a combination of equity, loans, grants and local funding. The project will be financed by Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Finnfund, Swedfund and Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation (NEFCO). The project will receive a grant from the NDEP Fund and also Nordic bilateral assistance, mainly from Finland and Sweden as well as EU assistance through TACIS-programme. Both the City of St. Petersburg and Vodokanal have also made major financial contributions to the finalisation of the project.
The investment will greatly reduce the effluent load of untreated and contaminated wastewater discharged into the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. At present, unprocessed sewage from a population of nearly one million people is being discharged into the Gulf of Finland. Most importantly, emissions of oxygen-consuming substances, nitrogen and phosphorus will be substantially reduced when the treatment plant becomes operational. Once commissioned, the new plant will meet the HELCOM and EU efficiency requirements. The project also includes a sludge combustion facility.
Construction work on the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant was started in 1987, but was abandoned in the 1990s for the lack of money. Approximately one-fifth of the plant's concrete structures were completed.
The project is a good example of how coordination of international financial resources and local partners can achieve significant results for environmental improvement in the Baltic Sea.
For further information at Finnfund, Ms Paula Sundberg, tel. +358 9 3484 3331, email firstname.lastname@finnfund.fi
