Prize for Southwest Wastewater Treatment Project

The funding solution devised for the St. Petersburg Southwest Wastewater Treatment Project, SWTP, has earned it the annual Municipal Investment Award for Environmental Development.

The price is awarded by the journal Project Finance Magazine. In 2000 NIB was mandatet lead bank and arranger of the financing of the project.

Representatives of the partners in this public-private partnership project (PPP) – the St. Petersburg water utility Vodokanal, Nordic contractors YIT, Skanska and NCC, plus NEFCO and NIB – met in Helsinki on Tuesday, 11 November to discuss current project issues. The meeting established that the project was progressing well, and the processing plant will be ready for commissioning in 2005.

The SWTP project is the frontrunner of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP), and the first project to reach the implementation stage. The PPP structure of the project is unique, based on cooperation between joint European forces, Nordic contractors, international financial institutions, donors and local authorities.

The investment will greatly reduce the effluent load of untreated and contaminated wastewater discharged into the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Emissions of oxygen-consuming substances (BOD5), 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.