The Niirala-Värtsilä international border crossing point was opened during 1995 and has an annual processing capacity of 150,000–200,000 border crossers. Nearly 900,000 people crossed the border during 2002, and traveller traffi c is expected to increase by 5–10 per cent annually during the next few years, resulting in an estimated traffi c volume of 1.3–1.6 million in 2010. Th e border crossing point was being improved to meet the requirements of the aforementioned traveller volume. Th e project was to implement a radiation control system update and transfer or expansion, a static scale bridge, an expansion of the camera surveillance system, the acquisition of Virve phones and implementation of the transfer of the axle scales and a pattern recognition system. 50 percent of the project funding was received from the European Regional Development fund and 50 percent from the National Board of Customs.