St Petersburg's southwest waste water treatment plant will open in September. The biggest environmental venture in Europe at this moment will treat the waste water of some 720,000 inhabitants, bringing with it a considerable improvement to the state of the entire Gulf of Finland.

The third-biggest treatment plant in St Petersburg has been constructed by the Finnish company SWTP Construction Oy, which was expressly set up for this project in 2002.

"The site has been manned principally with Finns gathered together from three Finnish companies i.e. YIT, NCC and Skanska, which are all experienced builders in Russia. All the project's planners are Finnish," says Reijo Niinikoski, the project manager.

"The next stage is to repair and complete the sewage network so that the waste water can be led to existing plants. After the repairs and improvements, the plants will be able to take an additional load from some million inhabitants."

At the mercy of the weather

The construction of the treatment plant originally started in 1986. Because of financing problems, however, the project was interrupted in 1993, when 60 per cent of the plant was ready. It continued again in 2003 thanks to new financing arrangements. The job has been both challenging and rewarding.

"Because the structures had been left at the mercy of the weather and partly under water for ten years, the repair work was particularly difficult. In addition reconciling the planning, purchasing, construction and installation was a challenge."

Niinikoski says that the cooperation between the various parties went surprisingly well. The project would not have been carried out if all those taking part in it had not shared the same goal and had the will to achieve it.

"A strong local presence was necessary. The end user, Vodokanal, deserves a special mention for the support it gave, especially in settling permit matters," says a grateful Niinikoski.

The waste water treatment plant, which will be completed in September, will be the third-biggest in the city.