Shared Road to the Future

Mirka Rahman, 17.2.2014
Of the border stations in South-East Finland, the popularity of the Brusnitshnoje-Nuijamaa border crossing point has increased the most. Between 2010 and 2012, passenger traffic at the Nuijamaa border station increased by 46%.The road from Vyborg to the Brusnitshnoje border station which was originally constructed as a service road for the Saimaa Canal, carriers 3300 vehicles daily. On Saturday morning, 15th of February, a small bus collided with a truck prematurely ending ten lives on that road.

At the current rate of growth, the number of Russian travellers will more than triple compared to present levels, based on a linear trend forecast, even without visa-free travel. Naturally, this requires that the border continues to function, and that queues remain reasonable and the safety is ensured. In a recent study by TAK Oy, the current rate of increase is anticipated to mean that in 2025, the number of Russian travellers alone will reach 14 million. If visa-free travel becomes a reality, the number is estimated to be significantly greater. The road will be even more travelled.

The amount of travel to Russia from Finland and Northern Europe would also increase significantly. These streams of travellers would further strengthen the position of Lappeenranta-St Petersburg region as a travel hub. In this way, visa-free travel can function as an important catalyst in Finland, Northern Europe and Russia, both for the development of tourism services and for the impact on employment. The ease of interaction created by the freedom of movement would also improve business life by speeding up the formation of new services and cooperation between businesses. It is important for the competitiveness of the whole international border region area that the development of internationalisation and building of business connections is not slowed down by border queues, formalities and safety hazards.

The current road connections in South-East Finland would not support such an increase in volume, however. It has been known that the highways from Vyborg to the Finnish border are in need of urgent improvement in their overall condition. The situation is particularly problematic with the road from Vyborg to the Brusnitshnoje border station, rented and maintained by Finland. Brusnitshnoje-Nuijamaa road is built in 1960’s to serve as the maintenance road of the Saimaa Canal during the summer. The road was never meant for the international logistics it now supports. The road is narrow and curvy, and thus the speed limit is set either at 60 or 40 km an hour on it. Quality requirements for the traffic routes must be such that the increased traffic will pose no risk to the safety of people crossing the border. This risk was face to face with us last Saturday. It has been clear that Russia must rebuild the roads from Vyborg to the Finnish border before visa-free travel can become a reality, but another day should not be waited.

South-East Finland’s ENI program for 2014-2020 with an estimated of 100 M euros looks at the working border as the key theme. The funding for the ENI will come from both Finland and Russia in addition to the EU. The program starts in 2016 and Finland’s key interest is the new road between Vyborg and Nuijamaa border station. The program can support the design of the road but Russia needs to invest in building the road. There is a working group working towards better roads between Finland and Russia. From Lappeenranta we remain active towards our local members of the parliament as well as Russian officials to ensure that there is interest to ensure the smooth and safe border traffic. We hope to proceed towards joint ENI proposals with Oblast and St Petersburg.

Further the Northern Dimension Partership on Transport and Logistics, referred as NDPTL, has agreed to provide funding towards the Saimaa Canal infrastructure improvement as well as the new road to Brusnitshnoje border station from Vyborg planning. This is Finland-Russia partnership project. There is a support of 200 000 euros for the road for this year and there is another 200 000 euros funding for the planning of the new road. This helps to draw the position and prepare the basic technical plan for the road. Northern Investment Bank, NIB, will proceed with this with the Russian partner in charge of the project. The new road itself is an investment of millions of euros where there can be further funding sought from NIB. This road is manageable as large scale investment projects are even more common in Russia than in Finland.

We travel the road together and we need to fix the road together. Regardless of what is found in the investigations what lead to this tragic accident claiming lives, we both need to understand to take the concrete steps towards the new road, not only adding concrete on the old one. Tourism and growth of business is what is needed on both sides, and the prosperity can only be achieved on sturdy road. Let’s step on it together.