Sustainable Keila

Keila - a town with a population of 10.000, situated 25 kilometres west of Tallinn, is considered attractive to entrepreneurs. The town has a railway connection and remains within easy reach of international roads, ports and major Estonian airports.

There are residential and recreational areas, as well as separate industrial areas which are not yet fully exploited. That is why in 2004, more than 200 people were employed and thousands of square meters of production premises built.

There is an industrial park of 48 hectares in the North-Western part of Keila. Having a good location and infrastructure, the park comprises more than 20 enterprises employing around 1500 people. Among them there are such internationally known enterprises like ABB, AGA, GLAMOX, ENSTO, Draka NK Cables, PKC Group, INEXA, as well as several Harju Group enterprises. Beside producers, the industrial village also accommodates companies offering transport, customs and warehouse services. In order to foster further development of the park, AS Harju KEK obtained a production plant of 19 hectares in the Southern part of Keila.

Due to damage made by the Soviet Army, the ground -water in the upper aqueducts in the area had become polluted by the mid 1990s. Keila has been known for its very poor quality of drinking water. In order to enhance the welfare of the citizens and to develop production, a major environmental project was launched in 1997. The aim of the project was to improve the living environment of Keila. The authorities decided to upgrade or build a new water and sewage system for the whole town - a new water plant and water treatment plant. Today, two thirds of town has been upgraded.

With the help of the Environmental Agency of Denmark, a new water treatment plant was completed in 2001. The plant services also the neighbouring areas and industry. So far, ca. 5,7 million EUR has been spent on the project that is co-financed by the help of Finland, Denmark, PHARE, the budget of the I republic of Estonia, NEFCO loan and Keila's own resources. The water system upgrading project is continued. If everything goes as planned, the first investments can be made in 2007. For Keila, it means 5,5 million EUR from the European Union's Cohesion Fund. Keila will probably be the first town in Estonia to be wholly covered by a common water and sewage system. More people will get new homes and their quality of life will improve. And that is what attracts more enterprises to Keila.