Activists Fight for Finnish Gulf

By Yekaterina Pavlova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: August 1, 2012 (Issue # 1720)

Yelizaveta Dreval / for spt Protesters holding a poster that reads, ‘It’s our shore. Stop the land reclamation.’

Almost 300 people gathered in the Dubki park in the neighboring town of Sestroretsk late last month to voice their protest against the reconstruction of the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Local protesters overtook the park wearing hats with slogans and carrying balloons to express their dissatisfaction with the high-profile city project.

The city government’s controversial plan for the land reclamation project between the towns of Sestroretsk and Lisiy Nos is still a topic of conflict almost three years after the city government held a tender to attract investors. The company Severo-Zapad Invest won the rental contract for the 140-hectare territory on which to build a reclaimed land project. On Aug. 16 last year, then-governor Valentina Matviyenko signed a resolution on a 16-point infrastructure plan for the project, which stipulated the construction of gas pipelines, sewers, power lines, water towers and other utilities.

Locals are convinced that the project will do irreparable harm to the ecology of the Gulf of Finland and that the Kurortny area will lose its status as a recreational territory.

“There is the potential danger that certain city constructions that are protected by law will be destroyed. The currents will change, and God only knows in what way,” said Anatoly Krivenchenko, leader of the Pure Gulf social organization. He urged people to remember the negative ecological effects, such as various plant species being destroyed and water pollution, experienced after the land reclamation project for the new passenger port on Vasilyevsky Island was implemented.

However, a review carried out by the main government survey agency, Glavgosekspertiza, on the territories near Sestroretsk, found that the project would not have a negative impact on the environment. At least two public examinations of the waters of the Gulf of Finland were also carried out. All the results showed the same thing: Land reclamation will not reflect negatively on the area’s ecology.

According to Mikhail Cherepanov, the PR director of the investment company, all of the territory in question is in a terrible condition and needs to be improved.

“We need to save this territory. This can be done by creating artificial land and a normal landscape, which would make this territory suitable to live on without harming the environment. During the implementation of the project alone the problem would be solved,” Cherepanov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy.

In addition to the ecological question, residents foresee more problems emerging as a result of the project. According to the investor’s plans, the project will create 2 million square meters of real estate that will house 60,000 people, effectively doubling the population of the Kurortny district. This will add to the traffic flow on the Primorsky Shosse, which is already problematic. Severo-Zapad Invest representatives say that the city will solve this problem by expanding the highway and launching new suburban trains.

Nevertheless, fighters for the purity of the Gulf of Finland are concerned that numerous trucks and cars on the town’s streets and the Primorsky Shosse will result in round-the-clock noise pollution, as well as dust, dirt and major traffic jams. Other town residents have expressed anxiety that illegal immigrants will be brought in to work on the project, and that people’s houses will be knocked down to make way for the project and its infrastructure.

In February, St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko announced that the project was suspended until it could be proven that there would be no negative effects on the area’s ecology. In order to unfreeze the land reclamation project in Sestroretsk, Novatek, a natural gas producer affiliated with Severo-Zapad Invest, promised to spend 1 billion rubles ($31 million) as compensation for any ecological damage that might result. The main construction in the gulf area will begin in the summer of 2013.

The cost of creating the two islands, according to preliminary estimates, will total between 13 and 15 billion rubles ($404 and $435 million). The total cost of the project is estimated at 250 billion rubles ($7.8 billion). All infrastructure expenses will be paid for by the government.