ST.PETERBURG. /Prime-TASS/ -- A Russian-Finnish joint venture company plans to start building a 16.3 million euro veneer plant in the Novgorod Region this month, an official with the Novgorod regional government told Prime-TASS. The joint venture was created specifically for the construction of this plant by the Russia's Novgorodskie Lesopromishlenniki and the Finnish Schauman Wood. The annual capacity of the plant will be 7,500 cubic meters of veneer, the official said. The project is expected to pay itself off in five years, and the construction of the plant is to be completed by the spring of 2003, he added. The equipment will be supplied by Finnish company Raute. No other details on the project were provided.