TALLINN - Civil leaders in Helsinki and Tallinn continue to mull over the extraordinarily ambitious idea of building a tunnel between their cities some 200 meters beneath the Gulf of Finland.
Suvi Rihtiniemi, chairman of the executive board of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council, was quoted as saying that any tunnel would have to be a rail connection since only freight handling could make the structure economically feasible, the Helsingin Sanomat reported.
In Rihtiniemi's estimation, the tunnel could only become a reality in 25 's 40 years.
In the end of March the Tallinn and Helsinki mayors signed a protocol of intent to study the possibilities of constructing the tunnel.
The mayors, including Tallinn's Edgar Savisaar, agreed to submit an application to the European Union for funding the feasibility study.
The estimated cost of the study is 500,000 's 800,000 euros. Each city has expressed a willingness to contribute 100,000 euros, with the remainder to be covered by EU funds.
Both mayors have applied for funds to their respective ministries for financial assistance, but without success.
Savisaar and Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen agreed the cities would set up a working group staffed by deputies from each city.
Details of the project are sketchy, but the tunnel could stretch from the Viimsi peninsula northeast of Tallinn to either Porkkala or Helsinki itself.
Depending on its exact route, the tunnel could stretch from 70 's 85 kilometers. Maximum depth would be 200 meters.
In order to make the tunnel self-sustainable, it has been proposed to build a six hectare artificial island in the Gulf of Finland that would generate wind energy for the structure below.
Baltrail has reportedly said a tunnel would take 10 's 15 years to build.
Finnish media has reported that at present there is no price tag for the project.
The 50 kilometer tunnel linking France and the United Kingdom cost around 4.6 billion pounds by the time it opened in 1994. It took six years to build.
The world's longest transport tunnel is the Seikan rail tunnel in Japan. It opened in 1988 and cost $3.6 billion. Like the Channel Tunnel, it has struggled to be cost effective in a world of cheap air and ferry travel.
