In a historic decision on Wednesday evening the Helsinki City Council gave its approval to the construction of a massive harbour facility in Vuosaari in the east of Helsinki. The vote in the council was 58 to 27.

   

The meeting was chaired by the Vice Chairwoman Suvi Rihtniemi (Nat. Coalition); Pekka Sauri (Green), the council's Chairman, disqualified himself from chairing the final debate in order to avoid a conflict of interest, as he owns shoreline property near the planned harbour.

   

The vote went largely along party lines: the National Coalition Party, the Social Democrats, and the Christian Democrats voted unanimously in favour of the project. The Swedish People's Party and the Left Alliance were almost unanimously behind it: one member in both groups voted against the harbour.

   

Opposition to the project has largely focused on environmental concerns. All but one of the 22 Green members of the Helsinki City Council voted against the harbour, as did three out of the four representatives of the Centre Party, and the single member of a one-man non-aligned group.

Wednesday's vote is seen as

one of the most monumental decisions in the 127-year history of the Helsinki City Council, comparable to the vote in May 1969 in which it approved the construction of the Helsinki Metro.

   

The new harbour will allow Helsinki to shut down a number of its port facilities near the centre of the city and convert them to housing and commercial use.

   

Much of the new harbour is to be built around the old Vuosaari shipyard. Construction costs are estimated at EUR 261 million. In addition, transport infrastructure is expected to cost the City of Helsinki and the state another EUR 104 million.

   

Construction of the harbour could begin next year, if the remaining permits are granted. Another hurdle is a Parliamentary initiative by Swedish People's Party MP Klaus Bremer opposing the earmarking of state funds for the transport links to the harbour.

   

The project could be completed as early as 2008, but experts say that this is probably too optimistic.

The first proposals for a harbour

in Vuosaari came in the late 1950s. The prospect of a harbour in the area was one of the main considerations when Helsinki agreed to annex Vuosaari in 1966.

   

The first concrete proposal for the construction of a harbour in Vuosaari came in January 1990. At that time proponents hoped that the first of the harbour's facilities might have been completed already in 2000.