Finns built Kostamus from scratch behind the Iron Curtain

Finns built the city of Kostamus and an iron pellet plant in the Soviet Union from 1977 to 1985, in a project that employed thousands of people from Finland, Yle reports. At its peak, more than 3,000 Finns worked at the construction site, with more than 60 per cent coming from the Kainuu region.

The project took place near Finland’s eastern border, about 40 kilometres from the Finnish frontier. Finland and the Soviet Union had agreed to build the city in a remote forested area, at a time when unemployment was rising in Finland, particularly in Kainuu.

Aulis Jurvansuu, a 24-year-old newly qualified construction manager from the Oulu region, travelled to Kostamus for the first time in 1978. Crossing the border was a powerful experience, he recalls.

“It was impossible not to notice that we were entering another country. Security was tight, and even applying for access permits was demanding,” Jurvansuu says.

A construction project on an exceptional scale

Jurvansuu describes Kostamus as a university of construction technology, where the benefits outweighed the disadvantages of working away from home. He first worked as a supervisor for surveying teams and later became a concrete manager, overseeing demanding slip-form casting work, including the 180-metre chimneys of the iron pellet plant.

The project was carried out on such a large scale that its size was difficult to comprehend. According to Jurvansuu, Kostamus had the largest concrete plant in Europe at the time.

“In Kostamus, people hardly talked about how much things cost or whether the company had enough money. I only encountered that kind of discussion later, when I continued working in construction in Finland,” he says.

The contract included 550 construction projects, including industrial buildings, apartment blocks, a cultural centre, day-care centres and shops. Over eight years, the project generated 16,000 person-years of employment for Finns.

Finns built the structures, while Soviet workers installed the machinery. Under the agreement, Finland committed to buying iron pellets from Kostamus for the steel plant in Raahe.

Services and strict separation

The construction area provided Finnish workers with services including banks, post offices, shops and occupational healthcare. Leisure activities were also organised for them.

Accommodation arranged by the main contractor, Finn-Stroi, included room cleaning, bed-making and changing the sheets. Finnish cleaners took care of the work.

“No matter what condition you left the room in the morning, it was clean when you returned from work,” Jurvansuu says.

Workers initially lived in barracks and later in apartment blocks they had helped build. Young men often spent their free time drinking cheap Soviet alcohol and playing cards.

Meeting Soviet citizens was prohibited, but opportunities arose both at the construction site and during leisure time. While Finland and the Soviet Union were engaged in major foreign trade, workers exchanged coffee, jeans and tights with Soviet citizens for roubles or directly for vodka.

Finnish documentary director Markku Heikkinen is now planning a documentary about the people who built Kostamus. Even the youngest Finnish participants are now retired or approaching retirement.