In order to ensure an effective utilization of the historical territory of the enterprise Liepājas Metalurgs and have a positive impact on the economic development of Liepaja, as well as promote the increase in the number of export companies and export volumes, to increase the direct and indirect tax revenues in the state and local government budgets, and to ensure a rational use of available free electricity, and to take into account the fact that co-operation between institutions is one of the main objectives of the sustainable development of the city of Liepaja, on August 30 of this year, the Ministry of Economics, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the Liepaja City Council, the Liepaja Special Economic Zone Authority (LSEZ) and SIA FeLM (LLC) signed a letter of intent on the development of an industrial park in Liepaja.
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economics Arvils Ašeradens: "The creation of an industrial park with a unique infrastructure means a development of the territory of Liepaja city in the area of 120 ha. In the next 15 years, investments for high value-added business in the industrial park will be attracted and 1,000 new well-paid jobs will be created promoting the economic activity not only in Liepaja but also contributing to the overall growth of the Latvian economy."
Chairman of the Liepaja City Council, Uldis Sesks: “In recent years, Liepaja City Council has been very focused on developing the city infrastructure as suitable for existing entrepreneurs and appropriate for new business initiatives. Not so long ago nothing in the Business Park on Kapsēdes Street, the Karosta Industrial Park or any other territories indicated that they could become modern and competitive business areas. At the moment, these territories are cleaned up, underground engineering communications are in place, lighting has been created, streets have been renovated and territories with new workplaces suitable for modern entrepreneurial requirements have been created. We have proved that Liepaja is a suitable place for business and can materialize new business ideas.”
Chairman of the Board of Liepaja SEZ, Jānis Vilnītis: “This is an historic moment both for Liepaja and Latvia when a new page is turned and a new development phase for the place and territory we have known so far as Liepājas Metalurgs has begun. I would like to thank all the leaders and employees of this strategically important enterprise who worked here before 2014. But now a new story will be told, which, I believe, will be as important to the city as the historic company. An industrial park will be created where new, modern companies will be established and developed meeting all the environmental requirements, creating new jobs and generating new incomes both to the city and state. Liepaja has previous experience in the development of industrial parks, and existing parks show how diverse they can be and how they can achieve results. Liepaja Business Park with private foreign capital was created in the territory of the former meat processing plant, UPB and Vecā ostmala business parks have been established and developed by the local entrepreneurs, while the emerging Karosta Industrial Park is being built with the support of the state and local governments.”
The signed letter of intent states the intention to establish a project management team whose task would be to prepare a development plan for the industrial park area, including conducting market research and calculations for the necessary private or public investment in the infrastructure development. Meanwhile, the owner of the historic territory of Liepājas Metalurgs along with LSEZ have plans to establish a legal entity, which would ensure the implementation of the Industrial Park territory development plan, gradually involving a professional private partner in the development of the Industrial Park territory, ensuring termination of the participation of SIA FeLM (LLC). At the same time, SIA FeLM (LLC) together with the Board of LSEZ plans to develop interim provisions for real estate tenancy and reservation in the Industrial Park, which will be in force until the development of the Single Territory Management Model.