Finland. City of Rovaniemi

The loan is provided for the expansion of the municipal infrastructure and the environmental upgrade of street lighting in the city of Rovaniemi, northern Finland.

The city has adopted a land use strategy to develop new residential areas and to ensure the provision of municipal services. The project will be carried out between 2014 and 2018, and include the construction of roads, a water supply network and sewage pipes for newly built neighbourhoods.

Between 2016 and 2018, the city will also replace 6,000 mercury-vapour street lights with more energy-efficient lamps. This will reduce the energy consumption of street lighting by approximately 1,800 MWh annually.

Rovaniemi currently has a population of about 60,000 people, and is a logistical hub in northern Finland.

Over the next 15 years, the population of Rovaniemi is expected to increase by 8%. At the same time, the size of households is projected to decrease, and a need for 430 new apartments per year has been identified. The investments in roads, water supply and sewer systems support the ongoing urbanisation process and respond to the demographic changes in the housing market.

The project is assessed to have positive indirect environmental impacts. It will link new residential areas to the district heating system and potentially reduce car traffic by providing connections to public transport. The replacement of mercury-vapour lamps with high-pressure sodium and LED lamps is expected to improve energy efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions.

The main negative environmental impacts of the project are expected to occur during the construction of the new roads and water supply network. Since the expansion of municipal infrastructure follows a defined plan for land use, the environmental impacts are assessed as minor.