Estonia, Investments, Legislation, Markets and Companies

"When planning starts, all possible locations that are less than 10 kilometers away from Tartu city center should be excluded from the list. Our dream location would be west of Tabivere, in the middle of the woods. This place is 21 kilometers from Tartu city center," Aadu Polli and Margus Kohava, who stand for the pulp mill being built, told the newspaper.

According to the board members of Est-For Invest, in this location the pulp mill would not disturb the city's residents, but the reality of building there depends on an impact analysis.

Eesti Paevaleht also asked comments from Tartu politicians regarding possibly building the pulp mill in Tabivere. Chairman of the Tartu city council Aadu Must and Mayor of Tartu Urmas Klaas said they oppose the idea of building the pulp mill in Tabivere. Minister of Public Administration Janek Maggi said that in his opinion studies should be carried out before making a decision.

The company Est-For Invest is planning to build a one billion euro pulp mill near Tartu in southern Estonia, which would process approximately 3.3 million tons of pulpwood a year and export its output. The planned average production capacity is up to 750,000 tons of bio products a year. The plant would go into operation in 2022.

The government in May 2017 opened a procedure for a national designated spatial plan to find the most suitable location for the wood refinery in Viljandi county and Tartu county, as well as a strategic environmental impact assessment procedure to find out about the refinery's estimated impact on the environment.

The national designated spatial plan process is made up of the comparison of locations and the compilation of the detailed planning solution at the suitable location. Studies will be carried out in parallel and the social, economic, cultural and environmental impact involved with realizing the plan will be assessed.

In the past few weeks several politicians have expressed their doubts regarding building the pulp mill and said they are ready to reassess adoptioning a national designated spatial plan.