Published in: Helsingin Sanomat, 22nd of October, 2003

- THE RESIDENTIAL AREA OF NESTE BEING USED AS A NOISE BARRIERS

- A NEW PROCESSING PLANT WILL BE BUILD TO THE AREA

- Fortum has began the demolition job of it's old residential area in Porvoo that was build in the sixties. The buildings will be crushed to pieces and used for noise barriers. The wooden structures in the buildings will be used as wood chips. The buildings were build in the sixties and seventies, to serve as a homes for the workers that worked for Neste. During the top times, there were 500 workers and their family members living here, but now Fortum needs the area for it's expansion plans. The new production plant manufactures sulfur free diesel from oil, that now days ends up to being used as a heavy fuel oil. At the moment, Fortum isn't demolishing the whole residential area and there's only six houses that have gotten a demolition verdict. The area will still have seven buildings, but only four of those will have permanent residents. The apartments will now serve as homes for those workers that are participating to the maintenance and repair jobs of the oil refinery. Most of the houses in the area are in a good condition and there's no damage in the structures or in the walls. The buildings however haven't been repaired since 1982, because the area has been under a construction ban. 

- The construction ban was due to the city planning in the area of Kilpilahti. The rural district of Porvoo and the Uusimaa county planning office didn't want any new residential buildings near the oil refinery. When the communications improved during the years, Fortum also didn't need the emergency people living near the refinery. If needed, the fire department and other officials could be called by radiophones. However, the residential area was a good place to live, with different services being close and the apartments were very roomy.

- About a year ago, there were still 66 families living in the area, with 142 people. Fortum was already at that time, helping them to find new apartments. Now about thirty people from the refinery are participating to the demolition job and when the real expansion of the refinery gets under way during the year 2004 and 2005, there will be around 1000 workers. There's still a small shop in the area and it will be around for at least few years and the construction area can mean a decent profit for the shop owner, when there will be a lot more customers than before. When the new plant will be operational in the year 2006, the rest of the buildings will be also demolished, because it wont be safe to live next to the plant, as the residential houses are located only within few hundred meters from the plant.