OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2012. Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen has started his working trip to Pitkaranta region with visiting the enterprise of Setles Ltd. in the settlement of Impilahti. This timber mill which is a part of Stora Enso concern was launched in 2003 and is one of the republic's large enterprises with the participation of Finnish capital.

Valentin Chmil, Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia and Minister of Economic Development, Vladimir Matrosov, Deputy Minister of Nature Management and Ecology of the Republic of Karelia, and Alexander Hynninen, Chief Federal Inspector in the Republic of Karelia, accompanied Head of the republic during his visit to the enterprise.

In 2009 a woodworking complex was founded on the basis of the timber mill with a capacity of 120,000 cubic meters a year: there was established the end product sorting line, drying chambers, the enterprise's own bark-burning boiler-house and new warehouses were put into operation. Total amount of investments into the project has made 2,6 billion roubles.

According to Andrey Plokhov, Director General of the enterprise, reconstruction of the timber mill continued this year to which some production cutback is related. In the course of modernization thetre has been established high-precision sawing equipment, and sorting of saw-timbers now occurs by means of videocameras that has increased productivity by 25%. Next year the timber mill plans to produce up to 115,000 cubic meters of saw timber.

Prospects of the enterprise development, as well as issues of cooperation with the Finnish party were discussed at the meeting of Head of Karelia Alexander Khudilainen with the management of Stora Enso and representatives of its branches working in the territory of Russia. According Hannu Kasurinen, Executive Vice President for Building and Living, today Stora Enso includes 23 sawmills in 11 countries of Europe. The concern produces up to 6 million cubic meters of converted timber a year. These products include wooden constructions for high-rise housing construction, components of furniture and interior decorations. Since recently the concern more and more focuses on cooperation with Russia and countries of Eastern Europe, and is engaged in production of wooden constructions for pre-engineered high-rise buildings.

Today the Finnish party is ready to offer its technologies for high-rise wooden housing construction in territory of Russia, including Karelia. However, for this purpose it is necessary to unify building norms and rules which currently do not allow to build houses higher than three storeys in our country.

According to Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in Finland Valery Shlyamin who was taking part the meeting, today at the level of the Government of the Russian Federation and the management of the European Union a negotiation of development of this branch of construction has been started, including standardization of building specifications.

A pilot project launched in the republic would also promote solution of this problem. Alexander Khudilainen has suggested to conduct exhibitions devoted to housing construction technologies in Karelia with participation of Finnish businessmen.

Matters during the convesation also concerned prospects of processing deciduous raw material within the territory of the republic.

– We are ready to discuss this issue and to name suppliers of deciduous raw material to process it within the region, instead of exporting it unprocessed beyond the borders of the country, – Alexander Khudilainen said.

Director General of Ladenso Ltd. Nikolay Senko, which is also a part of Stora Enso, has told about implementation of Finnish technologies concerning construction of dirt roads that are in service all-the-year-round for timber hauling. Ladenso builds up to 70 km of such roads a year.

– This unique technology has to be used in territory of the republic, – Head of Karelia said. – To increase logging we need roads of good quality, and it requires knowledge.

Therefore, Alexander Khudilainen offered to hold a seminar on the basis of Ladenso enterprise that would help loggers of Karelia assimilate this modern technology.