Tallinn supports Lasnamäe swimming pool construction with up to €20 million

Tallinn plans to launch a public tender in late July or early August to find a private company to build a swimming pool with a spa centre in Lasnamäe. The winner will be offered investment support of up to €20 million. The Social Democrats suspect that the tender outcome is predetermined and that developer Capital Mill is the clear favourite.

Tallinn intends to provide a private company with investment support of up to €20 million to build a swimming pool with a spa centre in Lasnamäe. The official public tender is planned to be announced in late July or early August.

Tender and support principle

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Tiit Terik (Centre Party) explained to ERR that the tender will be won by the company that requires the smallest amount of city support. "The public tender will be won by the company that says it can build the facility with the smallest amount of city support. If one company says they need €18 million in support and another says they need €15 million from the city to implement the project, then the one wanting less city support will win," said Terik.

Tallinn city council decided several years ago to offer up to €20 million in investment support for the swimming pool to be built. A new Olympic-size pool would be built near Tondiraba ice hall, where both training and international sports competitions could be held.

Social Democrats' doubts

Social Democratic Party representative Kaarel Oja believes that the tender winner is essentially already clear, namely developer Capital Mill, who also drew up the entire water and sports centre project. Capital Mill is known, among other things, as the developer of the Skyon building on Maakri Street in Tallinn.

"We see the history of the last two years, where exactly this type of concession tender was already launched once. Back then, there seemed to be other interested parties, but in the end only Capital Mill made a bid. They confidently stated that their needs were precisely the amount that was the ceiling for the city. No one else even participated in the tender for the same reason, that particular developer has such a huge head start," explained Oja.

According to Oja, an even bigger concern is that the city gives millions of euros in support to a private developer, but then has to start renting pool time from them. "Right now we're moving in a direction where, on one hand, the city gives the developer a considerable amount of millions of euros to complete the construction, and in reality the city will then have to rent that same pool time back, because our educational institutions simply need it. The city will be a significant tenant or user there and will pay the developer, which is complete nonsense," he said.

Terik: competition is not closed

Deputy Mayor Terik rejected the claim that the tender outcome is predetermined. "If a particular company wins this competition, then this reflects the situation in the market and the different companies' risk appetite or ability to build this facility," he noted. Terik stressed that the tender is open to all interested parties and the winner will be determined based on the bids.