TALLINN - The construction of an aspen pulp mill at Kunda on the northern coast of Estonia is ready to commence, as Estonian Cell, the company building the facility, finished signing share subscription and loan contracts in Tallinn earlier this month.
The pulp plant, which will be built for the production of quality paper, has a planned yearly capacity of 140,000 tons, which would require 400,000 cubic meters of aspen. When working at full capacity, the plant will employ 70 people. Approximately 350 people will be employed to serve the facility from outside the plant.
According to company partners, the mill's construction will take 22 months within which the ground and foundation work must be completed by December.
Roar Paulsrud, CEO of Norwegian Larvik, one of Estonian Cell's shareholders, said the team launching the plant would probably include one or two foreign specialists.
Nevertheless, local employees will run the plant once it begins production.
The total cost is projected at more than 150 million euros. Austria's Raiffesen Zentralbank is financing 108 million euros.
In addition to Larvik, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Austrian Heinzel also own one-third of Estonian Cell's shares.
Commenting on the project's finances, EBRD First Vice President Noreen Doyle said that when Larvik Cell asked the bank to help finace the project, the problem was the project's equity capital.
As a solution, the EBRD united shareholders Larvik Cell and Heinzel, Doyle explained, adding that EBRD will remain a shareholder for 7-8 years.
The project's main contractor will be RWE Industrie-Loesungen GmbH of Germany, with installations to be supplied by Austria's Andritz AG.
The owners may propose building a paper mill next to the Kunda pulp facility in the future.
