City of Kemijärvi wants to expropriate pulp mill for resale or lease

City would sell or rent property to new entrepreneur

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The struggle over the future of the Stora Enso pulp mill in Kemijärvi in Finnish Lapland took a new turn on Tuesday when the City of Kemijärvi announced that it wants to exercise its right of eminent domain and expropriate the facility and the land that it is on from Stora Enso.
      The matter will be on the agenda of the City Board when it convenes on Monday.
      Stora Enso plans to shut down the Kemijärvi plant, which employs 224 people, in order to shore up the profitability of its other installations. It has also refused to sell the mill to any company that planned to continue the manufacture of pulp there.
      The Kemijärvi municipal authorities are to propose to the Ministry of the Environment that the city be granted the right under land use and building legislation to make a compulsory purchase of the building, as well as its equipment.
     
"The mill is necessary for the development of the municipality. A paragraph to this effect can be found in the law on eminent domain, but it has not been implemented in Finland", says Heikki Nivala, Chairman of the City Board of Kemijärvi.
      "The mill has a greater significance for Kemijärvi than the expropriation of the land of Sipoo has for the City of Helsinki", Nivala adds.
      In addition, the installation is seen to have an important social significance for all of the eastern part of Finnish Lapland.
     
The purchase of the pulp mill is seen as a key factor in using the forests of the east and north of Finnish Lapland in a sustainable manner, and in securing employment in the area.
      Heikki Nivala says that the city plans to sell or lease the factory to a new entrepreneur.
      "We already know of someone who will continue, but we have promised that the name will not be made public", Nivala says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Government denies agreeing to closure of Kemijärvi pulp mill (14.2.2008)
  Vanhanen makes no new promises on Kemijärvi pulp mill (11.1.2008)
  Protesters in Kemijärvi occupy pulp mill slated for closure (4.1.2008)
  Ruukki Group offers to buy Kemijärvi pulp mill (21.12.2007)
  Stora Enso to shut down two factories in Finland and one in Sweden - 1,400 jobs to go (25.10.2007)

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